Bound to Eternity
by Valakun
Summary: New Chappy! What good is an immortal demon's soul container if the container doesn't last? Ah the flower of youth...who says it's fleeting? A Naruto/Ranma/SM crossover. Tokyo will never see it coming. Ninja...duh!
1. Intro: First Half

Naruto, the container of the grand demon kyuubi, has reached his eighteenth birthday. He is at the peak of his power and achievement; a chuunin quickly on his way to becoming the most powerful and influential ninja of his age. But something happens that day that will forever change his life. Age, it seems, is not something demons care much about and Naruto is about to learn that the hard way.

I don't own any of this. But you knew that already didn't you.

* * *

Spring was in the air. Flowers bloomed everywhere, revealing their happy colorful faces to the world and the sun. Birds sang in the warming air, joyously proclaiming the coming of the season. White clouds puffed by effortlessly on the first of the season's warm breezes. Rivers and streams gurgled happily with cool mountain water that until recently had been snow and ice. 

The hidden village of the Leaf could not help but be touched by these signs of the new season. Indeed one could even say it was the cause of the exceptionally glorious change of seasons. The village was the picture of prosperity. It buzzed with happy activity and seemed to radiate a feeling of contentment into the countryside that made the flowers seem just that much nicer.

Spring was also a time for young hearts to blossom and for love to be found in abundance. Konoha wasn't an exception. A city wide sigh could almost be heard as couples new and old strolled the streets or took to the parks for a quite picnic under the trees.

But among these happy couples there was one pair that weren't exactly proclaiming their love for each other to the world. They were the exception to the rule that stated that everyone in town had to know they were together. They were almost never seen together in public and when they were no one but their close friends could tell there was anything going on between them. Considering who the couple was there was good reason for all the secrecy.

They sat together now, on a wide branch of a tree on one of the many training grounds surrounding the city, and simply talked. They were leaned against each other. Their backs pressed together with their legs straddling the thick branch. Their conversation rambled from one topic to the next. Sometimes it was serious and sometimes it wasn't.

Today was one of the less serious days. Conversation started and stopped, the stops frequently stretched into long minutes of comfortable silence until a new thought or topic came to mind.

Finally, after a period of silence lapsed too long, the purple haired girl checked the time and smiled. It was almost time. Even though she knew what she had to do she was loath to interrupt the silence. It was so nice. But finally she forced the words out in a small voice.

"Um...Naruto?"

A deep but tired "Hmm?" rumbled against her back. She smiled again. She had caught him trying to nod off to sleep.

"Do you want to go get something to eat? My treat."

The mention of food, especially free food coming from his girlfriend, drove any sense of sleep from the blond's body. He craned his head over his shoulder and met the deep pools of soft creaminess that were Hyuuga Hinata's eyes and gave her a rueful smile.

"Are you sure you have enough to cover the bill?" he asked with a wink.

Hinata smiled coyly, a new expression for her, and answered. "I'm pretty sure I can cover it."

"Alright then!" Naruto said briskly. He disappeared from the branch with a puff of smoke and reappeared on the ground below.

With a squeak of surprise Hinata lost her balance and tumbled from the branch only to be caught by the strong arms of her love. Her face flushed as the surprise disappeared. It wasn't every day that she found herself in such a strange position.

Sensing the awkwardness Naruto quickly put her down on her feet and smiled despite the small shove she gave him.

"Please don't do that again Naruto," Hinata said meekly, her voice reverting to it's old quiet unsure self.

"Ok ok. I won't do it again...any time soon," Naruto said as he dodged out of the smaller girl's reach to avoid any further hitting.

Hinata just giggled and reached over to straighten his Chuunin vest for him which made Naruto grin even more.

The two of them, along with many of the remaining Leaf genin that had made it to the semi-finals those years ago, had made Chuunin several years back after another round of exams. Most of the old teams had run the gauntlet together again and had passed with flying colors much to the delight of their senseis, the hokage, and the village. The influx of solid Chuunin had boosted the ninja workforce in the village and helped to bring in more money for the battered village. With their help the city had recovered and was even prospering again.

Hand in hand the two love birds made their way back towards town. As they neared the denser areas of town though their hands separated and they began to talk of training that day, which they hadn't done, and about the training they would do tomorrow, which they probably wouldn't do either. They became just friends again. Training partners that merely shared a few hours of their time with each other before going on their separate ways.

They put up this front for the village because of Hinata's family. When they had discovered their love for each other a year or so ago they had had to cover it up quickly to avoid questions from an already biased Hyuuga household. Hinata's father made it abundantly clear early on that he did not like Hinata associating with "that demon boy". It was obvious he did not like Naruto and neither Hinata or Naruto wanted to push their luck where her father was concerned.

So they had covered it up and "silenced" the three or four people who knew too much already, mainly by using blackmail and bribery. They couldn't very well kill their team mates and Sensei.

Hinata took the lead today and Naruto quickly figured out that she was headed unerringly towards his favorite of favorites, the Ichiraku Ramen stand. His stomach growled appreciatively which made Hinata giggle into her hand.

When they arrived they discovered that they had the place to themselves. No other customers were in sight. Naruto sat with a grin and turned to the man behind the counter and promptly gagged.

The man behind the counter was not who he had expected. Hatake Kakashi, resplendent in a white paper hat tilted at a jaunty angle and with a white apron draped over his Jounin uniform, was busy dipping noodles.

Naruto recovered slightly but still couldn't find words for the extremely abnormal vision before him. Kakashi stopped and simply waited for Naruto to come to. When he did the question exploded from his mouth with such force that the bowls piled up behind the counter shook.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

The silver haired man continued his work as if totally unaffected by the blond's loud question and answered him calmly. "I needed the extra cash."

Naruto's jaw hung off it's hinges in shock. Had hell frozen over?

Kakashi's sole visible eye curved upwards in a smile. "Surprise?"

With a tremendous puff of smoke a whole host of people appeared around the two seated lovers. They appeared sitting on the counter, on the other chairs, behind the counter, and out in the street. All of them wore huge smiles, or what approached huge smiles for certain people, and together they yelled in one huge voice. "SURPRISE!!! HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY NARUTO!!!"

Naruto gapped in unbridled wonder as the people began patting him on the back or, in the very rare case when it was a girl, a kiss on the cheek. He knew every one of them. His old teammates were there along with each of the other old rookie teams. Lee's team was there as were the senseis for each team. Jiriaya, Iruka, and even the Hokage herself was there. Konohamaru and his two friends, now Genin, were hugging his arms and legs.

Tears began to stream down the blond's cheeks. They were tears of joy of course and they didn't hinder the huge grin that was spreading over his face in any way. His arms began moving on their own accord, hugging back and ruffling hair when the person happened to be younger. When he finally found his voice again he could hardly manage a thank you through his tight throat but they heard him just the same.

He'd never had so many of his friends and loved ones together before. The fact that it was for a birthday party for him made it even better. As the hugs and kisses and thank you's died down the presents and cake came out and Naruto lost his voice all over again. The cake was a big one, covered in delicious looking orange chocolate frosting that made Naruto's taste buds water in delightful anticipation. Eighteen lit candles ringed the edge of the cake, waiting for the man of honor to snuff them out.

It was all too good to be true. If this was a dream Naruto never wanted it to end. But the feelings were real. The people and tactile contacts were real. And it made him smile and cry all the more.

A small handkerchief came into sight and lightly wiped away the tears. Naruto turned to see Hinata smiling the rarest of her smiles, a broad full faced smile that held nothing back, and dabbing at his eyes with her handkerchief.

Naruto leaned into her hand and felt her return the pressure.

Someone, an annoying raven haired someone, thought Naruto and Hinata were getting a little too into themselves and spoke up. "Hey Dobe! We haven't got all day you know."

Naruto tried to give his rival a scowl but failed utterly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and gestured at the cake on the counter in front of Naruto.

A mummer of agreement swept around the gathered group and Naruto turned back toward the cake. A voice pipped up from his side.

"Don't forget to make a wish Naruto nii-chan," Konohamaru said.

Naruto winked at his part time sidekick. "I'm not about to forget that. And I have a great one ready and waiting."

Naruto inhaled deeply. The gathered friends eyes widened in anticipation.

'I want to be Hokage,' Naruto wished silently as he began blowing out candles.

Cheers erupted as he neared the last of the candles. With a final puff Naruto extinguished the last one.

That's when it happened.

A voice seemed to bubble maliciously up into his ears from within, a voice he was very familiar with by now. That of Kyuubi.

"**My gift to you brat...enjoy..." **The voice said teasingly.

Then a rush, a surge of demon chakra so fast Naruto didn't even have time to think about blocking it out. It burned it's way through his chakra pathways and spread quickly to the rest of his body. The sensation was unlike anything he had felt before. The sizzling pain tingling through his every cell and pore, but only for the barest of seconds. Then, just as it had come, the burning pain left him, dissipating and retreating back into the depths of his mind.

The only outside clue about what had transpired inside the boy's body was that his long blow of air suddenly turned into a coughing fit. Most took no notice of it, putting it down to burning lungs or getting more smoke then air. The few that noticed the inward happening took no serious note of it...

Except for one.

XXXX

Naruto recovered quickly. He put on his smile again and acted like nothing had happened. Someone began to cut the cake and there was a general confusion as paper plates and forks were passed around. The owner of the stand had appeared again along with his young assistant and were busy cooking large amounts of ramen for the parties consumption. People began to break up into smaller groups as they received their cake and began to talk, even Hinata stood and moved off with the excuse that she needed to talk to her former sensei.

Which left the blond boy a moment to himself.

His fingers dug into the bar surface in anger. He hadn't had any problems from the demon that resided inside of him for almost a year. Neither had talked to each other for months. Naruto had had no problems on missions or in fights of any sort. The dreams had even stopped, mostly because they had been replaced by dreams of a certain purple haired girl. So it was a big surprise when the fox suddenly made a come back.

"**What the hell is wrong with you you bastard fox? You trying to spoil my party?" **Naruto inwardly thought, directing the comment through his link to the fox. A rumbling chuckle came back at him from the depths of his mind.

"**Answer me damn it!" **

The fox went silent, his presence sinking back into it's dark corner of his being.

Naruto growled mentally in frustration. **"Fine, I'll deal with you later."**

His fingers weakened their death grip on the counter top and his mind returned to the party. Trying to put the small incident with the demon out of mind Naruto picked up a piece of cake in one hand and a bowl of ramen in the other and went in search of his girlfriend.

'This will be a good day. Just don't let the fox ruin it for you,' Naruto thought. 'Heh, what could he possibly do to ruin this day of days?'

XXXX

Years later Naruto would look back upon that moment with pain and regret. How wrong he had been.

* * *

Well there's the intro. For those of you who read my other stories, don't worry. I will be continuing them. I just wanted to get this one started as well. I've been wanting to put this up for months ever since the idea hit me. The story is based off of a ranma/sailor moon fic that is now apparently gone from this site. I don't remember the name, maybe someone could refresh my memory once you've figured out where this story is going. It was probably one of the best fics i've ever read. No there won't be any sailor moon refrences or appearance in this and only a very few ranma ones. Anyway...laters. Hope you enjoyed it. There will be more. 


	2. Intro: Second Half

And here's the second half of the intro. Again you all know I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Naruto did indeed deal with Kyuubi later. But not in the way he expected.

As the party wound down and people started to disperse the Hokage appeared at Naruto's side. The young man didn't notice her there as he was in an active debate with Lee and Gai about which styles of taijutsu were appropriate for specific battle instances. It wasn't until Tsunande got tired of waiting and grabbed the blond ninja in a head lock that he realized she had been waiting.

"Urk...Uh sorry bout that Tsunande-baba. Whatcha need?" Naruto asked as he was let out of the incredibly strong vice like death lock.

Tsunande rolled her eyes. Naruto was a chuunin now and he was still referring to her as and old hag instead of offering proper respect. Not that it really bothered her when he did it. It was the other people who took offense to it that Tsunande needed to worry about. She shoved the thought away and refocused herself.

"I don't want to pull you away from your party quite yet but I do need to speak with you as soon as you're done here Naruto."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow and gave her a smile. "Uh sure thing Tsunande-baba. What about?"

The Hokage didn't return the smile. "Just come by the office when you're done."

Naruto noticed that she was serious, he'd been getting better with that for a while now, and nodded. "Yes Hokage-sama."

Tsunande's lips twitched upwards despite her attempt to keep the smile off her face. 'I should try that more often.'

It took Naruto two more hours before he could pry himself away from what was left of the party. He had been loath to end one of the better days in his life by trotting off for a talk with his boss but he had been given an order, and as often as he skipped out on Tsunande he felt for some reason that he shouldn't today.

Now that the sun was on it's way down the clouds had begun to look a little gloomy and had gathered as if promising rain. Indeed a light spring rain began to patter down as Naruto arrived at the administration building.

Without pausing Naruto proceeded up to the Hokage's office. He passed a number of chuunin offices along the way, including his own, and spotted several of his friends hard at work. Well at least most of them were hard at work. Naruto shook his head as he got a look into Shikamaru's office and saw him napping, a half eaten piece of Naruto's birthday cake sitting next to him. Naruto was sorely tempted to slip in and steal the cake out from under the snoozing chuunin's nose for sleeping on the job but thought better of it. Naruto couldn't exactly punish his friend for something Naruto himself did every now and then.

XXXX

Knocking on the Hokage's door Naruto found that it was open slightly already. He poked his head in but didn't see anyone there. Thinking he might be able to get in a quick nap in one of the comfortable chairs Naruto let himself in.

He hadn't taken more then five steps when the door behind him closed with an audible click. Naruto turned to reopen it back to the crack it had been at but stopped stiffly when he saw Tsunande standing beside the door. She looked like she had been waiting there for a while.

"What are you doing hiding back there Tsunande-baba?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Tsunande didn't answer. She strode forward purposefully and stopped barely two feet away from the blond. Naruto felt her eyes roving over him but didn't say anything. He could tell something was wrong but didn't know quite what it was.

The Hokage continued to study the young man up close for a minute or two. By the second minute Naruto had begun to sweat. Something was definitely wrong and from what he could tell from Tsunande's actions it had to be something to do with him.

Finally she took an abrupt step back and gave him a scowl much like the ones he received from his doctor whenever he visited him. Tsunande walked slowly towards her desk, always keeping Naruto in sight as she did, until she was sitting on the front edge facing towards Naruto.

"So are you going to tell me what happened or do I just get to try and figure it out myself?" She asked.

Naruto looked dumbfounded. "Uh...what are you talking about old hag? I don't get it. What's with the serious looks and close up I just got?"

The old woman sighed, her stern expression melted into something softer and more caring. "Naruto, you're not helping. You know what I'm talking about. What happened when you blew out the candles today?"

The blond swore inwardly. 'Damn I didn't expect her to notice. But I guess I should have expected it.' Instead of telling her about it he waved a hand as if to brush it off. He added a charming grin as well. "Oh that was nothing Tsunande-baba. Just a little slip in my chakra control."

An eyebrow went up. Naruto could tell his excuse did not impress her. "If you thought that was going to fool me you're wrong. That excuse is as old as I am, probably older."

Naruto whistled in wonder. "You've been around that long old hag? You're older then I thought."

Tsunande rolled her eyes. "That won't work either Naruto. I'm a medical professional. I know how to tell the difference between a slip in control and an uncontrolled chakra surge even if I'm not looking at them straight. Now tell me the truth or I'll have you assigned to D rank missions for a month."

Naruto held up his hands, his eyes wide in terror. Being returned to D rank missions was one of his worst nightmares. "Ok I'll tell you. Just don't put me back on those things."

The Hokage nodded and pointed imperially towards one of the chairs in front of her desk. Naruto sank back into it and began to speak.

"I was just blowing out the candles when Kyuubi pops up and says something like 'Here's my gift to you brat'. Then that red chakra pounded me for a second or two and then left. When I tried to talk to the fox bastard he wouldn't answer me so I just let it drop for the moment."

Tsunande looked at him for a moment or two before nodding. "Fine. What did it feel like to you?"

Naruto recalled the intense burning sensation. "Felt like my whole body was on fire for a moment there. I've never felt chakra do that before."

"That's because it shouldn't, or at least normal chakra shouldn't." Tsunande walked around her desk and sat in her chair. "But because of the speed, power, and nature of the chakra involved I'm not really surprised. The question now is, what was the purpose?"

The blond chuunin shrugged.

"That's about what I thought," Tsunande said. "Well outside of some light burns to your chakra path ways, which are already on the mend I might add, you look fine to me. But next time don't hesitate to tell me about these things Naruto." She gave him a tender smile. "You're like a little brother to me Naruto. An annoying, disrespectful, hot headed brother but a brother just the same. And if you're gonna be replacing me you can bet I'll be showing a vested interest in your health."

Naruto grinned and blushed. "Thanks Tsunande-baba. I'll remember to tell you next time something like that happens."

Tsunande stood again and came around to give Naruto's hair a tussle. "You can go now. Happy birthday kiddo."

XXXX

Naruto fumbled for his door key in the semi gloom. Finally managing to dig the reclusive key from his pocket he opened his door and flipped on the lights to his apartment. It was still the same after all these years. Less messy but pretty much the same. Hinata's influence over the past year had gone a long way into cleaning the place up.

Naruto dropped the few gifts he'd gotten on the table and began to pull off his vest when he heard the pad of a soft foot step behind him. He whipped around, drawing a kunai in the process, and crouched, ready to fight his assailant.

His jaw slackened and a crooked smile made it's appearance on his face as he saw the 'dangerous killer' that was standing in his bedroom doorway. Hinata stood there dressed in pj bottoms and an over large t-shirt. Naruto couldn't fail to notice that the cloths were quite obviously his.

A delicate purple eyebrow rose as Hinata looked at the kunai still pointed towards her. Her eyes flicked to his leg holster suggestively. Naruto chuckled as the withdrew the kunai and placed it back in it's holster which he promptly removed.

"Sorry about that. I'm not used to having someone sneak up on me in my own apartment." Naruto eyed her choice of attire with interest. "Whatcha doin here anyway?"

Hinata blushed fiercely but walked toward him without pause. She picked up his leg holster from the table and flipped it around in a nervous gesture. Her voice, when she spoke, was a slightly nervous whisper. "Getting ready for bed," she mumbled, blushing a bit more.

Naruto grinned and leaned against the table casually. "Aren't you in the wrong place and in the wrong cloths for that?"

Hinata's blush reached the roots of her hair as she answered. "My family think's I've gone off on a mission."

Naruto laughed until his sides ached. Hinata would have blushed further if she had had any face or neck left that wasn't already beet red. Finally Naruto managed to stop laughing and, wiping the moisture from his eyes, took her in his arms.

"Well then, I guess you ARE in the right place...Hinata-chan."

Once he had cleaned up Naruto escorted Hinata to his bed and pulled back the covers for her. Still blushing, Hinata slipped beneath the covers, Naruto not far behind after turning off the light.

Naruto placed a kiss on his girlfriend's forehead as they snuggled up together. "Thanks for the surprise today Hina-chan," he whispered.

Hinata smiled sweetly as she felt his strong arms wrap around her back a bit awkwardly and drew her in. His smell drew her in as well and she sighed in contentment. "You're welcome Naruto-kun."

It wasn't too long before the sound of her breathing had evened out into a peaceful rhythm. Naruto lay there awake, simply enjoying his girlfriend's presence and contemplating the day's events. His mind glossed over the problem with Kyuubi and the subsequent talk with Tsunande, focusing instead on the better parts of the day. Therefore when Naruto did finally fall asleep his dreams were filled with friends, parties, and spring.

Dreams like those were all too rare for Naruto. He treasured the few he had and kept them alive in his heart as wonderful memories. But this night, this night would come to haunt the blond years later when he realized the truth. The night would become a bittersweet memory. A memory of the end of one life, and the beginning of another.

* * *

Sorry for the suspense but I think it's appropriate for how the story's gonna go. I normally don't go back to specific reviews but **Dragon Man 180 **caught my attention. You don't know how right you are Dragon Man. This is going to effect the rest of his life in a big way. In a BIG WAY...trust me... grins evilly at his readers. And as for **Clike's **question...no I haven't read SOC puppet's fic although now that you mentioned it I guess I'll have to. I have read SOC's "Bloodlines" so I know I like his stuff. **Note: couldn't find Birthday Present by SOC. You sure you got the right author? **


	3. As the Leaves Change

I've been working on this one for some time. I was aiming for a sort of chronology chapter but as you'll see it sort of turned into several small stories put together. Oh well, depth is always good. And kudos to **Xaldaran** for figuring out which story I'm using as a base. For any interested look up Fire's - "Destiny's Child". Once again I don't own this.

* * *

The seasons turned and summer came. Then fall arrived. And then with a blast of cold wind winter settled upon the land. When spring rolled around once again four new Jounin greeted the turning of the season. Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, and a highly reluctant Shikamaru had decided to partake in the annual Jounin exams and had passed with the highest marks of any ninja in the last ten years. 

(Right now we're assuming that Naruto and Kakashi were able to bring Sasuke-baka back from "the dark side", that everyone survived the "great Sasuke hunt", and that there have been no more problems with Sound as of late.)

Sasuke didn't stop there. He immediately applied for admittance into the ranks of ANBU and was given the go ahead by the Hokage herself. The Uchiha did have to accept one rule beyond the normal bylaws set down for the ANBU however. He had to submit to regular reviews and questionings from the Hokage for securities sake. He grudgingly agreed even though it meant he had to take missions that would keep him close to home.

Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru on the other hand, were quickly assigned as Jounin senseis. After the first day of their "Introduction to teaching" class Naruto and Shikamaru agreed that, for once at least, the Uchiha had made a smart choice. ANBU, after all, didn't have to teach genin.

By the time the first week of classes were finished Naruto was seriously wondering if he could do this. But when Naruto brought up his fears in front of Tsunande the Hokage simply pointed out that Naruto would have no problem compared to Shikamaru. The lazy shadow ninja avoided the classes whenever possible and slept through the ones he couldn't avoid.

Naruto, however, soon found that he had nothing to fear. The moment he was handed the information on his team and saw that, through some trick of fate, his team had been designated Team Seven, Naruto knew he'd have no problem.

Of course when he actually read the names of his students and saw who he would have under his command at least some of his fear returned. His fists had tightened, crumpling the paper slightly, as his eyes stopped on one name. Fate, or the Hokage, had decided that the single girl on his new team would be none other then Hyuuga Hanabi, Hinata's little sister.

Naruto had been introduced to Hanabi once and had seen that she had lots of potential but, if memory served, she was a little old to just be graduating. When he told Hinata who he'd managed to pull as one of his students the purple haired girl had just smiled and mumbled something about getting in good with the family. Hinata explained that for whatever reason, Hyuuga Hiashi had held his youngest daughter back. After a bit of pressing Hinata told him what she thought the reason was.

"He doesn't want another failure in the family. He doesn't want her to be like me."

Naruto had frowned and pointed out that Hinata wasn't a failure. In fact she was making a good name for herself as an assistant teacher at the academy and was in discussion with Iruka-sensei about a possible full time teaching job.

XXXX

The new Team Seven turned out to be just as interesting as the old team. The other two genin on Naruto's team were brothers. Makoto and Akira Yotsuba were from a fairly common ninja family and weren't nearly as promising as Hanabi but what they lacked in skill they made up for in noise levels. Makoto was the older of the two boys and had passed the exams on his second try, falling in with his younger brother Akira who passed it on his first. Why Iruka had put them together was beyond Naruto. He only knew it was a match made in hell.

Both the brothers possessed fair skin, brown hair, and yellowy green eyes but that's where the similarity ended. Makoto favored longer hair which he kept in a pony tail and dressed in more subdued colors that went with his more quiet demeanor. He was also the shorter of the two but didn't seem to be bothered by it. Akira kept his hair short, favoring the "just got out of bed" look. He wore bright colors that seemed to be just one step away from visually painful and had the personality to match. Makoto preferred genjutsu and taijutsu and Akira kept almost entirely to ninjutsu.

Separate, they were quite good and well behaved, but together they seemed to switch into totally different modes. Makoto became more silent and bossy where as Akira suddenly became ten times more outgoing and active. When combined the two usually ended up either ignoring each other or fighting, typically because Makoto would get fed up with his brother's bounciness and try to pull him back down to more reasonable levels.

And then there was Hanabi. Well mannered, silent, and incredibly skilled she was the ace of the group, easily beating the two brothers even when they managed to work together against her. Naruto only saw one major thing wrong with Hanabi and it wasn't exactly something she could do anything about. She couldn't help it that both of the brothers Yotsuba loved her to death. It was their number one cause for quarreling and their group's collective tender spot.

But despite the problems and ever constant brotherly fights Team Seven began to become a strong well balanced team under Naruto's leadership. Even with some early protests from Hyuuga Hiashi about who had been chosen to teach his little girl the team grew in both skill and togetherness. The fights became less explosive, although their numbers didn't go down, Akira began to mellow out a bit, Makoto smiled more, and Hanabi accepted them as teammates and as people worthy of being reduced to jello by her families' techniques. All together Naruto couldn't really complain. They were better then his team had been.

XXXX

Life passed on. Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru's teams watched as other genin entered the Chuunin exam without them. All three Jounin, now comrades in arms because of their teams, had decided to hold their teams back for another year of training instead of throwing them in headlong much as Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma had done.

The teams met together at least once a week for joint training. Naruto's team quickly fell into a pattern where teachers were concerned. Whenever the teams got together Makoto seemed to gravitate towards Shikamaru. Hanabi developed what seemed to be a love/hate relationship with Neji which was paralleled by the older Hyuuga's own interest/disinterest in his cousin's development. And Akira stuck to Naruto like glue, diligently following his sensei around and begging him for new techniques or for a spar. Naruto didn't exactly like all of this attention from his student, visions of his good friend Lee and his look alike teacher Gai kept flashing through his head, but he had to admit he liked the boy's style. His taste for bright colors, loud jokes, and ninjutsu mirrored Naruto's own personality nicely.

When it came to missions Naruto's Team Seven was all business. After the first several fights between the Yotsuba brothers during missions ended in Hanabi stepping in and pounding them flat they learned to keep their fights out of missions.

When the next chuunin exam came around Team Seven had completed a whopping thirty D rank missions, seventeen C rank missions, and an overrated B rank mission. The other two teams weren't far behind. Shikamaru's was, of course, in last place.

The three Jounin entered their teams in the exam and sat back to watch the fun. The actual tests had changed somewhat over the years. There was still a written test but the second test had done away with the forest of death in favor of a grand scale battle between two teams in a newly built city scape training ground. Thirty squads from various countries, most with no prior experience working together, were thrown together in two combined teams of fifteen squads each and told to take a certain building in the center of the faux town and hold it against the other team. There was also a team base at each end of town that needed to be guarded against the other team. If it fell the team lost.

There was a time limit of three hours. If neither team held the building or had captured the other's base by the end of those three hours then it would become a free for all between each individual squad for a fourth hour. At the end of that hour the test would be over.

There was, of course, a catch to all this. The building had to remain undamaged and standing. The rest of the town was fair game.

The Hokage and each of the Jounin senseis watched from a platform suspended over the center of town as the miniature war raged below them. The three friends tried to follow their teams as they fought in various locations around town. Shikamaru's squad had been thrown together with Naruto's on the same team. Neji's had been placed on the other team. With Neji's eyes better then binoculars they never lost contact with their teams.

At the end of the three hours no one had taken either objective. After a short pause the battle royal began and things got really ugly. By the end of the hour there were six teams left alive or conscious on the field. The teams that remained were still alive simply because they had holed themselves in and defended. The three jounin watched with pride as first one then two, and finally all three of their teams emerged from various points on the devastated field. They were three of only four Leaf teams left. The other two were from the hidden village of stone.

Once the remaining teams had assembled below the platform and the Hokage had said her piece they were allowed to leave. Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru leapt down to take a look at their teams.

Neji's was by far the best off. The genius jounin had taught instilled a defensive mindedness in his students and they had taken his teachings to heart, staying further from the action and never picking a fight but dealing out hefty damage if they were forced into action. There were only a few scratches among them.

Next came Shikamaru's bunch. The shadow ninja had apparently rubbed off on his students as well. They had avoided confrontation and planned skillfully for the fights that they couldn't avoid. This hadn't totally saved them however. An overlooked ambush had resulted in a broken arm and some down time for one of the boy's on his team. Beyond that and some light wounds they were well off.

And then there was Naruto's team. He had managed to instill in them his "never give up" attitude and had thrown in a good heap of offensive mentality but had also cautioned them on being too aggressive, something he'd learned about over the years. It hadn't made much difference unfortunately. His team was a mass of cuts, bruises, swollen eyes, and painful parts. Even the normally untouchable Hanabi easily displayed a series of light to medium wounds. Akira was the worst off of the group, sporting an arm broken, broken fingers, and enough bruises and welts for a football team.

The teams were given a month to recuperate before an elimination round was begun before the final. One on one duels in the same style as the preliminaries the jounins themselves had taken were the standard. Out of eighteen genin only six got through to the final round. Hanabi, Makoto, one from Neji's team, one from Shikamaru's team, and two of the remaining stone genin made it through.

A further two days were given until the final. When the dust settled from that only two genin remained standing. Hanabi and Makoto made it to the final round but when they faced off against each other they both refused to fight. Instead they both gave up at the same time and walked off together amid roars from the audience. Naruto simply grinned.

Only one person made chuunin that year. Following in Shikamaru's footsteps, one of his students made the grade and passed out of his care and into the middle ranks of Konoha ninja society. People chuckled about it for many weeks afterward.

XXXX

Naruto was present two years later to see his entire team pass the exam. He and his team had gone into high gear after the first and had spent more time practicing then on missions. After the awards ceremony Naruto was startled when he was pulled aside by none other then Hyuuga Hiashi. With him were Hanabi, attired in her new chuunin vest, and the Hokage herself. The old man grudgingly admitted that Naruto had done a good job and that he had heard nothing but good remarks about him from his youngest daughter. With a polite bow the Hyuuga master excused himself, leaving the Hokage and Naruto's former student to smile at Naruto's still awestruck face. The smiles grew larger when the two Yotsuba brothers tackled their teacher from behind and pinned him down. Tsunande then proceeded to scold the blond jounin for being caught unawares and warned him that if she ever saw it happen again she would demote him and assign him D rank missions for a year. Needless to say Naruto watched his back carefully for the next year or so whenever he was around the Hokage.

XXXX

When war broke out between Konoha and the hidden villages of rain and mist four years later Naruto led his old squad into combat. Hanabi, Makoto, Akira, and Naruto cut through ranks of enemy ninja like a scythe through grass. They quickly became known in enemy camps as the "Kage Oni", the "shadow demons", for their lightning raids and their ability to sink into the shadows once the deed was done.

It took months of skirmishing and raids for Konoha to finally knock hidden rain from the war. When their ally withdrew hidden mist got desperate and launched an all out attack on Konoha itself. The ninja's of the leaf met them on the outskirts of town in an ambush that set the mist back on their heals before their attack could even begin. But as Naruto and the other chuunin and jounin led the final assault on the remain mist ninja the mist sprung a trap of their own.

The hidden village of sound had stayed out of the war for unknown reasons. Now those reasons were revealed as close to a hundred sound ninja sprang out from behind the fleeing mist and launched a counter attack. Leading the assault was the massive serpent Manda and on his head rode none other then Kabuto. The remaining mist turned, giving up their retreat, and rejoined the attack. Now it was the leaf's turn to be on the defensive.

With Manda about Naruto had no choice but to call upon Gamabunta. The huge frog boss was none too happy at being called upon but once the situation was explained to him the head frog joined the battle with Naruto riding along atop his head. But even Gamabunta's appearance could not stem the tide. Finally the Hokage called upon her summoning, the Slug king Katsuyu, and brought the leaf back from retreat and decimation.

The forest disappeared under the weight of the titans and the pounding feet and terrible jutsus of the ninja armies. Bodies lay everywhere in various degrees of togetherness. Many were crushed as the three huge creatures went to and fro.

After nearly twenty minutes of this Manda and his allies were forced to back off and regroup. Both sides had suffered tremendous losses. Their giant allies were on the brink of collapse. And such a dust cloud had been kicked up by the battle that it mostly obscured the two sides.

Naruto took the opportunity to take stock of his team and the rest of his allies. Close to half the leaf ninjas that had gone into battle had been slain. The rest were walking wounded. Naruto didn't see a single person without a wound of some sort. Even the few medical nin among the leaf's forces were injured.

The blond jounin found his team in the rear area at an aid station. The first person he saw was Hanabi. The white eyed girl was standing near several people that had been placed under a tree. Her hair was a mess and blood was spattered all over her uniform but otherwise she looked fairly unharmed. Below her kneeling on the ground among the heavily wounded was Makoto. The normally quiet laid back boy was yelling obscenities and shaking someone's shoulders. Naruto's breath caught in his mouth and his heart fell as he saw who the person on the ground was.

Akira looked like he was barely hanging onto life. A crude bandage barely covered the huge gash that cut through his chuunin vest from his neck to his left hip. Blood had already soaked through the cloth, far too much. Naruto knelt beside Makoto and managed to looked Akira in the eye. The boy managed to focus on his teacher and smile. Naruto returned the smile, knowing full well that it was probably the last thing Akira would see. Sure enough moments later the last breath of air escaped the boy's lungs and a small river of blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth.

Makoto wept even harder as he saw the life leave his younger brother. He placed his forehead to his brothers and cried his heart out. Hanabi explained in quiet tones about what had happened. Apparently Akira had gotten into a one on one duel with a sword wielding mist nin when both of his teammates weren't looking. By the time they made contact with him again the mist nin was about to finish him off. They had thrown themselves at his opponent and beaten him off then proceeded to fight their way back to the aid station carrying Akira alternately on their backs.

Naruto gritted his teeth and growled. He could easily see the huge blood streaks that were slowly drying on their backs from where they had carried him. Naruto roughly pulled Hanabi away, leaving Makoto to mourn despite the need for him to be up at the front, and headed back towards the Hokage at a fast clip.

The Hokage, accompanied by her remaining escort of ANBU including Sasuke, was bidding farewell to Katsuya and Gamabunta as Naruto arrived. Once the two creatures were gone reports began to come in that the mist and sound were retreating in disorder. Naruto immediately stated that he would lead an attack to make sure they left completely. The Hokage, recognizing it as a not to subtle demand, merely nodded, knowing nothing she or anyone else said would sway the young jounin. With a curt nod Naruto turned and dragged Hanabi after him. Those who saw him as he passed could have told you without a doubt where he was going and how much pain was about to be inflicted.

Naruto found the blood spattered trail of the retreating army and took off after them at a staggering pace. Hanabi barely managed to stay upright as she bounced along behind her sensei, trapped by his iron grip and mesmerized by the killing intent radiating off him like a furnace. She finally managed to get back enough of her conscience thought to push a pressure point or two to get Naruto to release her. After recovering a bit she scurried off after him to make sure he stayed alive.

The sound and mist must have sensed him coming from quite a distance off for they doubled their pace and left behind a token rear guard to keep whoever was coming busy.

Naruto ran, quite literally, straight into them. He came at them without flinching and without pause. The guards didn't even have a chance. The blond bowled straight through them, a swirling rasengan in each hand and death in his eyes. For the first time in years Naruto was letting himself loose control. Red chakra seeped out and intermixed with his normal blue chakra. His eyes fluctuated between sky blue and demon red, finally choosing the darker side as the number of bodies left behind him grew. Kyuubi's voice grew husky and dangerous as Naruto opened himself to the fox.

"**Yes...let me feel it! Let me feel the blood! More! Give me more boy! Don't stop!"**

For once Naruto listened, for once Naruto agreed. He would leave none alive.

Hanabi watched from a branch a good distance off. Her Byakugan brought the battle to her in ways no one outside of Hyuuga could ever know. The sharpness of detail, the unobstructed view, the chakra. All of it was hers to watch, yet she couldn't. Pain arched through her eyes any time she tried to fixate on her sensei, forcing her to watch indirectly. The burning red and blue chakra was on a scale entirely above the young girl's comprehension. She had heard tell of her sensei's power and rumor of where it originated from but had never truly believed it. True she had seen his incredible endurance and massive chakra reserves but had never seen any hint of this! Suddenly all the oddities of her mentor seemed to click into place. The stories, the glares from the occasional older villager, his living along, and all the others neatly dropped into their slots, revealing for the first time the jigsaw puzzle that was Uzumaki Naruto.

She watched, utterly horrified by the carnage but unable to turn away because of it, as the enraged blond swept through the enemy like a bolt from the heavens.

She realized someone was standing beside her long before the massacre was over but couldn't spare the attention to find out who it was. But as the one sided fight wound to a close the unidentified person spoke.

"To experience that...it is to experience the deepest levels of hell."

The last body fell and finally the young chuunin tore her eyes away from her sensei. A tall man in the wrappings and mask of an ANBU stood beside her, his lean body perched perfectly on the tree limb. The girl searched her memory for the face to match the voice with but came up with a blank. The voice was male, hauntingly deep and utterly calm.

'Who?'

Before she could find her voice the man had disappeared from her branch and reappeared in the small open glade Naruto had just cleared of enemies. For a moment Hanabi thought Naruto might attack the ANBU but for some reason the jounin didn't. Instead the masked man seemed to have a calming effect on the blond. The storm of chakra surrounding his body shrunk and finally disappeared entirely, leaving the blood soaked man gasping for breath and staring at himself and his mysterious companion. Naruto spoke a few words and the ANBU replied. Hanabi, unfortunately, was too far away to hear or read lips so she was a little confused when the ANBU stepped in and helped lead Naruto back towards her.

Hanabi dropped to the ground and waited patiently for her seniors to reach her. She could see the haunted look in her teacher's face as he came into view. He was mumbling something to the masked man and obviously not liking what the man said back but didn't seem to care much. He was more concerned with getting rid of the blood that coated his body and checking to see if any of it was his.

She fell into step behind them as they passed and kept her head down as they walked slowly back to the rest of the army. She felt a sort of awe whenever she glanced at her sensei's back, making it almost unbearable to look at him. What she had seen was still quite fresh in her mind. His speed, utter determination and willingness to kill, and his power and debilitating killer intent. It was all so alien to the picture of the blond man she had in her mind that she almost refused to believe they were the same person.

It took them a good hour at walking pace to get back to the scene of the battle. The remaining leaf ninjas were scouring the field for fallen comrades and still breathing enemies. With the giant creatures gone one was able to get a panoramic view of the area. It took a hard heart and a tough stomach not to gag at the devastation that the clearing of the smoke revealed.

Hanabi saw many who she recognized along the way. A badly battered Asuma was cradling the head of his recently married wife Kurenai. The red eyed woman had long since passed on. The fact that she was missing her entire lower torso made that obvious enough. Lee, along with a stoic Neji and a tearful Gai were trying desperately to keep their teammate Tenten among the living. As Naruto and his small party passed a medical ninja jogged up and began to work on the girl. Kiba was howling like a maniac over the dead and mangled corpse of his dog Akamaru. The man tore at his hair and yelled obscenities to the sky. Shikamaru and his team were busy taking care of one of their own beside a fallen tree. The shadow ninja was mumbling the word 'troublesome' over and over again as he worked to staunch the flow of blood coming from one of his students. And those were just the people she recognized.

The ANBU led them unerringly to where the Hokage was, busily treating patients in a lonely little area of the battlefield. She was so focused on her job that she didn't bother to acknowledge their presence. When she was through with the last of those in need there she got up and began moving towards the next. Naruto, the ANBU, and Hanabi trailed after her.

After two more rounds of healing the old women was forced to take a break by another of her ANBU guards. The Hokage reluctantly sat down and accepted some water. When she had drunk her fill she looked up at Naruto.

Naruto took that as his cue and began to speak. "The sound and mist have been routed Hokage-sama. I pursued them and eliminated their rear guard myself."

A small jolt seemed to shake the Hokage. She glanced sharply at Naruto, noticing for the first time the amount of blood on his uniform and the slightly haunted look that lingered in his eyes.

"You went out there by yourself? I thought you were going to lead a counter attack!"

A muscle in Naruto's cheek twitched. "I did. I was the counter attack."

The Hokage blinked then glanced first at Hanabi then at the lone ANBU beside Naruto. She seemed at a loss for words but finally asked the question.

"Did either of you see this for yourself?"

The masked man spoke. "We did Hokage-sama. Naruto might have gone on to attack the main body if I hadn't requested he stop and return to report."

"I would have beaten them too if you hadn't stepped in Sasuke-baka," Naruto grumbled.

Hanabi's eyes darted to the masked man as she caught the name Naruto had said. Sure enough raven black hair poked out from behind the mask and spilled down the back of his neck in a small pigtail.

The Hokage sighed and stood back up. "Very well. I need to continue my work here. Rally the ANBU Sasuke and have them create a perimeter. Then head back to the village yourself and tell them to stand down and send out help."

Sasuke dipped his head and disappeared. Tsunande turned and gave Naruto another long stare. "I want you to get a count of the dead from both sides then find out how many of our people are still able to fight. We may need to be ready to fight again at a moment's notice."

Naruto jerked his head in what could be called a nod and began to make his way around the field. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

If you haven't figured it out by now this fic will probably have a lot of OC's due to it's direction in time. I'll try to keep them in check but with the time tables we're looking at I'm not sure it will happen. Eventually the only character left that you'll recognize will probably be Naruto himself. There will be references to the other characters and some possible additions from other anime although I'm debating whether to do that or not. Oh and thanks to everyone for the links to Soc's stuff and for reminding me about Naruto's birthday. I went for spring just cause it felt right. Sorry. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. 


	4. Truth Discovered

Looks around at the cobwebs and dust and shrinks back from them. Am I even allowed back? Will you let me return after so long an absence? It's been a long time since I last updated. School and work worries have kept me, along with plain old writers block, from continuing work on my stories till now. But because I love them so much and I know at least a few people enjoy my stuff I can't leave them alone for too long without feeling bad. So I'm back again for who knows how long...

* * *

That day stretched itself out into three for the young blond. His mission kept him awake and moving for three full days as he gathered reports and listed the dead, dying, and injured. Among them he found many of his friends and shared private moments with them when he could.

Tenten hadn't made it off the field that day. Naruto spent a solid hour just talking about memories with the remainder or Gai's old team. The blond found Kiba by accident when he was making a last sweep of the field a day after the battle. The spiky haired dog nin was still kneeling over his faithful friend. Someone had left the man some food but it lay untouched beside him. After speaking and getting no response Naruto crouched down beside him and wrapped an arm around Kiba for a long moment. The dog man leaned into Naruto but said nothing. Finally Naruto was forced to leave.

On a visit to the hospital Naruto bumped into Shikamaru who was wearing one of the strangest expressions Naruto had ever seen on the shadow nin's face. It looked like an odd cross between tired pleasure and extreme sadness. The black haired shadow user explained that his last team member had just left the hospital. All three were expected to make full recoveries.

Finally, on the morning of the fourth day Naruto made his report to Tsunande. The hokage had been practically living at the hospital but had finally retreated to her office and quarters the previous evening when her help was no longer needed treating patients. Naruto was, in fact, the first person she let in that morning. But she instantly regretted the fact.

Before her stood the dirtiest, bloodiest, and most worn out person she had ever seen in her life. She nearly knocked him out then and there for his own sake rather then listen to his report but something in the young man's eyes told her to wait.

"When I said to get a count on the dead and wounded I didn't mean for you to stay up until the last person died or went home. Really Naruto, you push yourself too hard."

Naruto didn't even have the energy to shrug, he just flipped a report onto her desk. "I carried out my orders as I interpreted them," he said as strongly as he could.

The hokage shook her head in disgust but the smallest of smiles tugged at her mouth as she glanced at him from behind the report. But that was wiped away as she read the report and saw the figures of dead, missing, and wounded from Konoha. It was hard to read but she forced herself to take the time and finish it as it was only four pages long.

When she was done she carefully placed the report on her desk and glanced up at Naruto who had stayed standing through the entire process. Tsunande opened her mouth to comment on a job well done when she noticed that Naruto had actually fallen asleep standing up. His eyes were still half open and his back was ramrod strait but he was most definitely asleep.

The old woman got up and quickly pulled a couple chairs around and placed the un conscience man on them. A touch or two on specific pressure points and Naruto's body relaxed totally. Tsunande stood and surveyed the bloodied man before her. The victorious warrior home from battle. The spitting image of another young man she'd met all those years ago.

Tsunande glanced up at the pictures of all the previous hokages. Her eyes moved over each until she reached that startling sun burst of color at the end of the line. The fourth was a handsome young man indeed. The boy before her was almost his spitting image which made him, in her opinion, handsome as well.

A frown crossed her face as her thoughts wandered into memories and stories she'd heard about the fourth. She reached out and yanked the zipper of the flack jacket Naruto wore down and pulled it aside. A brush of her hand moved his shirt and revealed his well toned stomach. She traced a finger over his navel, studying the chakra flow below his skin carefully. She'd never had the chance to do this before and she probably wouldn't ever again.

She found the outer range of the seal within moments and set about studying it's complex structure; viewing it's twists, turns, and invisible characters and how they entwined themselves with Naruto's chakra pathways. After a few minutes she moved inward to the intermediate range. Here the lines and characters became more dense and much more powerful. Their invisible presence radiated a faint but constant aura of red chakra.

Something began to bug her as she moved inward to the inner range. A small voice in the back of her mind was telling her something was out of place; that she had missed something important. She paused and tried to pin point the problem but it eluded her and slipped away. She shrugged, knowing it would come to her in time if she let it.

She was finishing up her examination of the seal's structure when another memory surfaced. She was reminded of another examination and inspection she'd forced Naruto into after his eighteenth birthday. Something odd had happened with Kyuubi then...an unexplained chakra surge...

The little voice was back again, only this time it was screaming bloody murder. She had missed something important then. But what? She had seen the light chakra burns then but they had been healing. Had there been something else?

Tsunande wracked her mind for something, anything that might appease the tortured soul that was yelling inside her mind. Coming up with nothing she went back to her inspection of the seal.

She returned to the point where she'd first felt that something was wrong. Part way along the middle range she found it. The seal crossed over a small section of chakra pathway here but beyond that there wasn't anything special about the location. She was about to give up when her scan swept the chakra pathway and stopped her cold.

The screams reached the peak as she bent over to inspect the pathway. Her eyes widened as she found burn marks coating the pathway, fresh burn marks that indicated a massive flow of chakra had coursed its way through them very recently. But surely Naruto would have mentioned another such occurrence. But she knew Naruto too well. He might hold back such information if he felt it didn't warrant her concern.

A sneaking suspicion began to form in her mind.

Pouring more chakra into her scan she delved deeper. If it had happened recently and Naruto hadn't said anything could there have been other instances in the past that he hadn't mentioned as well. If there had been there would be signs. But after an intense search she found no such evidence. Only the recent burns were visible with no sign of past happenings...

...not even the first.

The Hokage's thought process ground to a screeching halt as that fact hammered her for the first time. Not even Kyuubi could totally remove scaring, she had seen as much when she had seen to the boy's recovery after his fight with Sasuke all those years ago. Careful inspection had revealed faint scaring on his chest from where the Uchiha's arm had passed through. But there was no such thing here. It was like the burns had never healed. It was as if they were brand new.

Tsunande stood abruptly and took a step backward. The implications of such thoughts were making her brain swim. But she had to know how far the effect extended...she had to find out.

Two hours and a through body scan later the hokage had her explanation. Her whole body shook in silent grief as the answer sat plainly in front of her. Naruto's body had never healed completely for a reason.

He wasn't aging.

* * *

Yeah I know its short...that combined with my absence means I give you free rain to indulge a bit hate me. 


	5. Why Me?

Yeah that last chapter ending was a bit of a surprise wasn't it? Grins I love suspense like that, it keeps me coming back to a story time and time again even if I know what's going to happen next. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next installment. Parts some could consider a bit on the sour, lemony side, but only in the slightest. Its more fluff really. Anywho, enjoy.

---------------------------------------------------

Naruto's eyes cracked open briefly. For a moment he wondered where he was and how long he'd been asleep. The last thing he remembered was going to the Hokage's office to deliver his report. Had he fallen asleep standing there?

His hand massaged his eyes, helping them open fully. If he had fallen asleep standing up someone had been nice enough to lay him down somewhere. Once his eyes were fully open he realized that the room he was in was fairly dark.

He scrambled to get up, quickly discovering that hastily leaving chairs where you had slept was not a good idea. Despite all his prowess as a ninja he still only managed to dump himself on the floor and up end the chairs.

Naruto groaned and massaged his hip as he stumbled upright. He knew where he was now. Only the Hokage's office had chairs that unwieldy yet so comfortable to sit in. But what immediately drew his attention was the fact that the hokage's office was, in fact, dark.

"What time is it?" he mumbled, not expecting anyone to answer.

"Its two in the morning Naruto-kun," said a voice from behind him.

He turned to face the voice, popping multiple joints as he did, and found the Hokage standing in what amounted to be a secret door built into the far wall. Light seeped out around her as she stood there in the small passage way. He couldn't make out much but he could tell she was tired and had her arms crossed in a way that he'd learned meant that she wasn't in the best of moods.

"Tsunande-baba. Why'd you let me sleep so long? I had other things to do." Naruto grumbled.

"Because you needed the sleep baka. Your other tasks were taken care of, so don't worry about them."

Naruto quirked an annoyed eyebrow at her. Something didn't seem right here. Her posture told him that she was tired and probably angry but her voice was quiet, almost mournful. He'd never heard her sound quite like this before.

Tsunande sighed and beaconed to him as she turned around. "Come Naruto. There's something we need to talk about."

The blond man knew it had been an order so he didn't argue. He trumped across the darkened room towards the glowing doorway Tsunande had disappeared through. As he stepped through a sudden feeling of nausea swept over him. His eyesight rippled and he stumbled and almost fell as his world took a strange turn.

"I suppose I should have warned you about that doorway," Tsunande said from Naruto's left. "It's a bit of a shock the first couple times you use it but you'll get used to it."

Naruto felt like he'd downed one too many drinks with Lee or Kiba. But the feeling was fading fast. The young man took a look around and found himself in a large study that looked nothing like the ninja headquarters he'd been in a moment before. The walls were honeycombed with shelving for books and scrolls. Low couches, chairs, and tables were strewn about, most of them covered with additional scrolls and books. A large window dominated one wall but was currently shuttered closed. Light from lamps above and from a fire in one corner illuminated the room.

"Sarutobi-sensei's study. I inherited his house when I became Hokage," Tsunande said from one of the few chairs left untouched by books. She gestured to a small couch close by.

Naruto moved to the couch while still eyeing the beautiful room and all its small treasures. He was particularly drawn to a small collection of photos on one of the tables. They were all very similar. They were all team pictures in the style of Kakashi's Team Seven photo he had in his own apartment. In fact the last one was a copy of team seven just like his own. Before it was one of Kakashi's team under the Fourth. Then came Jiriaya with a younger version of the Fourth under his care. And finally there was a picture of the legendary three with a much younger Third Hokage presiding over them.

Tsunande glanced at what held Naruto's attention and managed a small smile. "Some day you'll add your copy there Naruto."

Naruto smiled. A rosy tint colored his cheeks as he thought about it. He'd had one of his first team taken in the exact same style as his genin team photo. The smile died slightly as he thought about his team, now one member short. He hadn't seen them since the end of the battle. He wondered how Makoto was dealing with the loss of his brother.

"When will the memorial take place?" Naruto asked quietly.

Tsunande blinked. She hadn't been ready for the question. "Tomorrow."

Blond hair swayed and glinted in the dim light of the lamps as he nodded.

The Hokage sighed and leaned back in her chair. She didn't want to say what she needed to but the problem had to be addressed. He had to know. Now that he was awake Tsunande could easily see that he did, in fact, look just like he had that day years ago when he had walked into her office after his birthday party. Except for his eyes. His eyes showed age beyond his true years. He'd seen death just as many ninja had. But for some reason it seemed to leave more of a mark on him then on others. She'd seen it when he'd come back from his "counterattack" the other day. The way his blue eyes seem to draw in light instead of beaming it back out, leaving them dull and empty.

But it had to be done.

"Naruto. After you fell asleep I scanned your body. I wanted to study the seal up close without you knowing. I've had the chance before but for some reason I always held back."

Naruto was looking at her oddly. This was very un-Tsunande like and it was beginning to set off quiet warning bells in his head.

"While I was scanning the seal something caught my attention. You remember your eighteenth birthday 'incident'?"

Naruto nodded.

Tsunande looked sadly resigned as she continued. "Remember I told you that all I could see was some light burns on your chakra passages?"

The younger ninja nodded again, but this time much slower.

"Well they're still there."

Silence reigned in the room. Only the sound of the fire crackling in the corner could be heard.

"Huh? What do you mean 'They're still there' Tsunande-baba? You said they were healing as you spoke." Naruto was confused to say the least. He still didn't understand subtly very well.

Tsunande sighed and flung up her arms. Naruto grinned a bit. This was an emotion he could understand coming from his Hokage. It was something he saw coming from her quite often when he was anywhere near by.

"Why did I even bother to try that approach with you?" Tsunande mumbled as she shook her head. She stopped and gathered herself again; Naruto expectantly waiting for her to make herself clear.

'Oh Kami this sucks,' was the last thing Tsunande thought before she opened her mouth. "The burn marks never healed because your body halted its development shortly afterward. You're not ageing Naruto. Plain and simple."

Naruto tilted his head. "Of course I'm aging Tsunande-baba. I had my twenty-fifth birthday not too long ago."

Tsunande scrunched her eyes together and let out a disgusted growl. "Gods you're so immature. I wonder if your mind got stuck like your body or if its just taking you along time to get out of that childish frame of thinking." She gave Naruto a glare that seemed to lack a lot of the anger and menace that she tried to put behind it. "Your physical body is no longer aging baka. Essentially you could live to be a hundred and you'd still have the body of an eighteen year old boy. Do you understand it now Naruto? That's what Kyuubi's gift to you was. He halted your body at the pinnacle of its development so he could insure that he lived on and didn't die when his mortal vessel, your body, died of old age."

Silence again stretched out over the room but this time there was no confusion evident in Naruto's eyes. Now there was disbelief, realization, pain, and hatred. His head drooped slightly, allowing his mess of golden hair to cast his face into shadow. Tsunande watched as his shoulders followed in the wake of his head, dipping down seemingly in defeat. The tightness in her chest doubled as she saw the boy, who she'd labeled unquenchable, shrink for the first time like a fast fading fire.

"Naruto?" she asked cautiously, suddenly desperately wanting to see his eyes again. "Naruto...look at me please."

He didn't respond immediately but after a few moments his head lifted again. But despite the revealing of his face the shadows remained. She saw that he had withdrawn slightly, into the depths of his thoughts. He showed no outward emotion now except for the vivid pools of unshed tears welling up in his eyes. But she didn't have to look at his glistening sky blue pools to know what he was feeling. The aura he projected was more then enough. Even sitting several feet away Tsunande felt the crushing weight of sadness and despair that seemed to suddenly fall around the young man. Was this what he had kept hidden away in his heart after all those years of pain and rejection Tsunande wondered? Was this the private Naruto no one ever saw?

For Naruto it was as if the dreams he had built up over the years, the careful creation of friendships with people who didn't care what he held inside, the dreams of glory and power he'd wrapped around himself, were all slipping away again like so much sand. The black pit of despair and self loathing that he thought had been covered up long ago now opened itself below him once again. He felt himself slipping down into the inky abyss once again. The rejection would return and the stares and whispers would rise up again as the years passed and he remained young. He would become the town freak again, hated and scorned by all, unloved for eternity.

Arms wrapped around him and dragged him into a warm embrace. He blinked, causing the tears he had been holding back to break free and run down his dirty cheeks, as he felt a body press up against his own. He was surprised to see the Hokage herself sitting beside him and wrapping him in a tender loving hug, pulling him gently down against her as a mother would a frightened child. Naruto stiffened for a second, unsure how to respond, but then her voice reached his ears.

"I'm so sorry Naruto. We'll figure something out. Don't worry."

The blond relaxed into the embrace, silently releasing the tears he'd held away. His arms circled around her waist seeking comfort in her touch. A small corner of his mind wondered if this was what it was like to have a mother. He decided it was. Then another thought sprang to mind. How odd this must look to someone else. A dirty warrior being hugged and fawned over by his Hokage. But Naruto didn't really care at the moment. The fear and hatred ebbed and began to retreat back into his mind. The arms around him were saving him from the blackness. He'd never had anyone that cared for him like this as far as he could remember. The comfort and feeling of well ness it brought was unequaled and he never wanted it to end.

Tsunande sighed as Naruto loosened up and relaxed into her. She couldn't hear him but she knew he was crying; the wetness seeping into the cloth of her shoulder told her all she needed to know. She released one hand and ran it through his hair. Its silkiness, even after several days without washing, amazed her.

After what seemed like an hour Tsunande noticed the tears had stopped. She gently pushed him away until she could see his eyes again. He still didn't look happy but she could tell the aura of despair had gone.

"Are you ok now Naruto?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "Good, because I think I have a plan to take care of part of your problem."

Life returned to his sky blue eyes. "What?"

Tsunande smiled mischievously. "You're always complaining about how I hide my age. Well I think the same technique I use will work for you only you'll be using it to appear like you're continuing to age."

The right corner of Naruto's mouth pulled up slightly as the idea rolled around a bit inside his head.

The Hokage smile broadened as she saw his reaction to her idea. "It'll require a lot of practice on your part. Its not too different from a henge so you should be able to do it no problem."

Naruto nodded, his smile spread a bit then slackened suddenly. "When can we begin training?" he asked.

"Tomorrow if I can find the time. I'll make sure to keep your missions close to home until you've gotten it down completely. Now go home. Its almost sun up and you need rest. You've got the next three days off."

Naruto nodded and stood. He looked very reluctant to leave but he straitened his dirty flack jacket purposely and sighed. "Thanks Tsunande-baba. I'll report in tomorrow to see about that training."

Tsunande nodded and gestured at the door they'd come in through which was currently closed. "You probably don't want to go back through that door though. With the amount of sleep you've had lately I doubt you'd survive a second trip." Naruto's lip quirked up in a very small smile.

"I'll remember that." Naruto said as he vanished in a small puff of smoke.

>>> 

The first rays of sunlight were hitting the courtyard of the school as Hinata strolled into it. It was her first day back since the battle and she was itching to see how the kids were doing. She'd been stuck at the hospital caring for patients and had had no time to speak to Iruka-sensei about the assignments she'd been given to grade. She patted the bag slung over her shoulder. She had lots of papers to grade before noon.

A flash of gold caught her eye and she turned to see where it had come from. Her feet lost their rhythm and she almost stumbled as she saw the hunched figure siting in the tree swing. Naruto had some how managed to prop himself up sitting sideways in the swing so he could fall asleep. She would have smiled had it not been for the terrible condition he looked to be in.

With a gasp she scurried over to her love and knelt before him. Her eyes ranged over him, taking in the dried blood stains and tattered clothing, the build up of dirt under his fingernails and in the creases of his skin, and the light stench that wafted around him. A grimace passed over her face as her hands reached for his face. He looked like something death had brought with him in his suitcase.

Her book bag slipped of her shoulder as she touched his face. She could see the faint trails left by recent tears. She could count the times she known him to cry on one hand. So why had he been crying? Her thumb brushed over his cheek as her hands cradled his face.

The response was immediate. A low hum emanated from his chest and he pressed back against her hand, craving the attention of another warm body. But that didn't last long. An eye opened and a half smile curved his lips as he saw the angelic purple haired vision before him.

"Knew I'd catch you coming in early," he mumbled sleepily. His hand reached out and mirrored hers, brushing her cheek delicately, which prompted a smile. Then his other hand came out and, together with the first, guided her up from her kneeling position to sit in his lap.

Hinata blushed a bit as she sat on his lap and leaned gently into him. Doing this in public, even counting the time of day, was highly unusual and possibly dangerous to their plan. But for some reason she didn't feel like complaining today for some reason. Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen him for several days. Or perhaps it was fate who calmed her fears and shut her mouth because if she had said something she may have missed the mumbled words that came out of his mouth next.

"Would you marry me Hinata-chan?"

It was so shocking Hinata almost passed it off as a little fantasy in her mind. But when the realization struck her that he had actually spoken and she glanced over to see a pair or half lidded blue eyes expectantly awaiting an answer her heart might as well have been a turned into a jackhammer. Her face burned like never before. Her racing heart made it hard to breath as her mind tired to wrap itself around the simple question it had been asked. But an answer refused to come so her body took over for her mind and answered for her. She just nodded her head.

The half lidded blue orbs smiled lazily before closing again in peaceful slumber. His lips crept upward in an peaceful smile then parted as his sleep muddled mind responded.

"Thank you Hinata-chan."

Hinata's blush deepened and a sigh escaped her lips as she nestled in closer to Naruto, her book bag and duties forgotten.

-------------------------------------------------------

Ah how sweet... I've always wanted to do a scene like that. Even though I wrote it I get a nice warm feeling inside from it, which is rare for me reading my own stuff. Don't expect anything more from me for a while. Finals are killer this year and its gonna take all my talent in dancing, conniving, and writing to get through with passing grades in some classes. Wish me luck!


	6. Character Building

Writers block, what more can I say? Were it not for my new writing conscience(you know who you are) I probably wouldn't have this done yet. It jumps around a lot because I was having a hard time trying to fill in events in Naruto's life as fast as possible while still retaining some detail. The real story is really supposed to start AFTER all of this...a hundred or more years down the road. This is all just back ground kind of. And don't expect me to update until New Years or a few days after. I'll be in Idaho visiting family. While I won't have internet access I will be taking my dad's laptop so I can write.

You guys know I don't own this junk don't you?

* * *

The memorial service the next day was held at the memorial stone on the old training grounds. Two lines of pictures on four foot display stands flanked the monument, one for the men and one for the women. As the names of the fallen were read by the Hokage a matching name was revealed on the black face of the memorial. 'Too many,' Naruto thought as the list went on and on, 'far too many have fallen.' Hinata grasped his hand and held it tight as Akamaru was given an honorary chuunin level and placed on the black obsidian among the other fallen. Naruto blanked out, lost in his own thoughts, as the ceremony continued until he was nudged sometime later by a dower looking Hokage. "My office, now," was all she needed to say to get Naruto moving again. 

Over the next several months Naruto spent a lot of time cloistered in Tsunade's private training room working out the kinks in his new age jutsu. The Hokage had said it would be a simple matter of reworking her age jutsu to suit him. What they quickly discovered was that it wasn't going to be that simple. It did, in fact, require a totally new jutsu. They had to begin with a basic henge and move upward in difficulty from there. Naruto also found that what the Hokage considered easy was only easy to her because she'd been doing these types of jutsu for close to twenty years. It had become so ingrained in her system that it was a natural extension of herself. But despite these problems the pair worked long and hard on it until they'd managed to get it to a point they were both satisfied with. The new jutsu, which they simply left unnamed, was passive and required very little chakra to keep up but did require a weekly recharge. It changed hair color and added wrinkles to skin and slight depth to voice but very little beyond that. It was simple, elegant, and totally convincing. Then they promptly shoved it aside. They had decided early on that Naruto hadn't needed the jutsu quite yet. His youthful look could remain unquestioned, they decided, for at least another couple of years before people would begin to wonder.

When Naruto wasn't working on his new jutsu he was either out on missions or working on wedding plans with Hinata in secret. Because of the problem that Hinata's father still presented they brought the Hokage into their confidence and asked her what they should do. Instead of immediately offering them her opinion however she had burst into a fit of laughing and smiles so wide they looked like they hurt. When she had calmed down enough to speak again she had informed them that this worked perfectly into a plan she had already been working on but she refused to give them any further information. She simply told them to begin thinking about what they would like in a wedding and left it at that.

With the war in somewhat of a limbo after the battle the best of Konoha's shinobi were kept close to home incase of emergencies. Jounin were given whole batches of new genin along with a few chuunin to teach and supervise for short periods of time. The idea being to get as many younger ninja exposed to the techniques and collective knowledge of their superiors as possible. Any Jounin instructor who had suffered a loss in their team during the battle were given the "mission" of teaching these classes once a week. Their remaining team members were given the option of helping their instructor or going on a paying mission. Most chose the paying missions to both help the village financially and to make sure they payed their bills. Makoto, who seemed to have withdrawn into himself after his brother's death, chose to keep his bills payed and keep the status quo. Hanabi, on the other hand, took up the teaching position with Naruto as often as she could. With her family as rich as it was she didn't require the regular income like most shinobi did.

Naruto and Hanabi quickly became a favorite with the younger crowd of genin. The blond's naturally simple thought processes and fun loving nature made him easy to work with and understand while Hanabi's strict discipline kept things orderly. The older genin and chuunin began to drift away and before too long they had a nothing but the younger genin. Iruka and Hinata even managed to get permission to bring in the academy students every once in a while for some "upper level" learning.

When the peace deal with hidden mist was signed six months after the battle, which had come to be known as the battle of the Youkai Barrens for the devastation the giant summon creatures had left behind, Naruto's classes were dropped and Konoha was finally able to step down from high alert. But despite this no one celebrated. No festivals were planned and no singing was heard in the streets. Everyone was too tired.

Now the mourning of the lost could truly begin. Small lines of people began to visit the memorial stone daily. Naruto was always one of the first, placing a flower or a small trinket for a lost friend every now and then. Kakashi would often be there as well, silently staring at the memorial. Naruto, with the help of a few discrete questions, finally figured out that Kakashi visited every morning. He couldn't help but smile when he connected this fact with his teacher's constant morning lateness when he commanded team seven. But no matter how early he got there someone always beat him. He never figured out how Kiba did it but there would always be a fresh bowl full of dog food waiting there every morning. A faithful token to a lost companion.

Less then a month after the peace was declared Tsunade all but halted Naruto's missions. When Naruto confronted her about it she just smiled and handed him a piece of paper. After reading it Naruto seemed lost for breath. His eyes bulged and his mouth worked a bit as he glanced from paper to Hokage and back.

"This isn't a joke...is it Tsunade-sama?" He finally choked out.

The Hokage shook her head and patted him on the shoulder. "No it's not Naruto. I figure that if I'm going to be having you replace me at some point you should spend some time getting acquainted with my duties."

Naruto went white. It was one thing to read the words on the paper, but to hear it from the Hokage's mouth was something else entirely. "You're making me...an advisor, in training?"

Tsunade wiped the smug grin off her face as best she could and nodded. "You'll begin work tomorrow. Be here at five tomorrow morning and don't be a minute late." The old woman tried to glare and look fierce but the idea of getting Naruto behind a desk for Hokage training was almost too good. She'd never had much of a poker face anyway.

Luckily Naruto failed to notice. He saluted and left the office in a stiff march. Tsunande began ticking off the seconds in her mind while she moved to the window. Several stories below she saw the golden spikes emerge into the sunlight, still walking stiffly. Then the bubble burst.

Naruto took off like a rocket down the long avenue, his screams of joy resounding off the store fronts and alleyways of Konoha.

Tsunade shook her head. 'One minute and five seconds. Must be a new record for him,' She thought as she turned back to her desk.

So Naruto left his kunai and shuriken at home and took up the pen and stamp. Instead of dirt and blood plastered all over his face at the end of a day there was ink and sealing wax. Instead of a backpack he carried scroll boxes and books.

Tsunade worked him tirelessly, moving files, looking up laws and rulings, and other similar jobs. She began working on his terrible handwriting and started taking him with her as an observer to important meetings with the village council all the way up to meetings with several of the other Kages. He also began learning the ins and outs of politics and policy making. For two years Naruto slaved away behind a desk and files. His occasional free day was spent either with Hinata or on B rank missions delivering dispatches to other villages or to the Diamyou of the Fire Country. In fact he became so popular with the local Lord, because of his friendly and determined nature, that the man offered the blond Jounin a position as one of his body guards and advisors. After talking it over with Tsunade and getting her go ahead Naruto agreed.

Naruto spent a full four years serving the Daimyou as a personal guard and authority figure on the Leaf Ninjas that served the Fire Country. His adventures in the capital were as exciting as they were varied. Everything from guarding delegations from other lands to uncovering an assassination attempt. He served faithfully and to his utmost. So when Naruto's service was up he made a request of his lord. The older man could tell it was hard for the Jounin. The man motioned the boy forward and had Naruto whisper it in his ear. As he spoke a sly grin began to pull at the lords face as the young man's request unfolded in his mind. When Naruto pulled back, a blush staining his cheeks, the daimyou already had a reply ready.

>>>

Tsunade was busily working at her desk amid the usual pile of papers, scrolls, and general office refuse that seemed to congregate there when she heard a firm knock on her door. Frowning at the intrusion yet silently grateful for it, Tsunade admitted the person. To say she was surprised when Naruto walked in, saluted, then gave her a formal bow would be an understatement. She hadn't seen the Jounin for well over a year now since his last visit home. She'd been surprised how much he'd changed then, what she saw now was even more surprising.

The blond man had obviously begun using his aging jutsu for his skin looked much more worn and aged as befitted a man going on his thirty-first birthday. Faint lines had appeared around his eyes and corners of his mouth that hinted at both extreme happiness and anger. His hair was still the same length as before but had begun to fade out a bit around the edges. Instead of the normal green flack vest and dark blue body suit that most Jounin and Chuunin wore he sported a black flack jacket and dark red body suit that were normally worn by the Daimyou's ninja guards. His head protector band matched the color of his body suit as well. An ANBU style katana was strapped to his back.

Together with his new ensemble and courteous entrance Tsunade was rendered speechless. She slowly stood and braced herself by planting her hands on her desk. Naruto simply righted himself after his bow and spoke. "Permission to return to active duty Hokage-sama." His eyes never met hers, instead they fixed themselves on a point somewhere above her head.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. This was very un-Naruto like. Granted he'd been working with courts and dignitaries now for close to six years but this just seemed absurd. The Hokage decided to test it out.

"It's good to have you back Naruto. I'm a bit surprised at your sudden appearance though. I was under the impression you wouldn't be back for several more months."

Naruto didn't move. He remained ramrod strait. "Thank you Hokage-sama. It is good to be back. Our Lord deemed my time to be over and allowed me to return to Konoha at an earlier date then he had previously set out."

His voice was flat, expressionless, and didn't even hint at his feelings in the slightest way. The hairs on the back of the Hokage's neck began to tingle and stand on end. This couldn't be Naruto. Maybe it was and he just needed to know he didn't need to be so formal.

"At ease Naruto."

Naruto snapped into a different stance. His arms behind his back and his feet shoulder width apart. Tsunade recognized it as a standard parade rest stance.

The Hokage blinked. This was far to weird to be Naruto. She raised her voice a bit as she spoke. "Cut it out Naruto."

Naruto remained unmoved. "Cut what out Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade's eyes bulged and her hands hooked into claws. "I'm serious. If you're really Naruto I'm telling you to cut the crap and act normal."

"How would you like me to act Hokage-sama?" was the response she got.

That was it. Tsunade had had enough. She stormed around her desk intent on strangling the imposter that had taken on her sudo-brother's form. Naruto didn't bat and eyelash as her fingers wrapped around his neck and began to squeeze.

And then, quite suddenly, Tsunade found she was squeezing the neck of the bust of the Third that normally sat in the corner of the room. She blinked owlishly at the cold stone in her hands before whipping her head around to stare at her desk.

Naruto was there, his feet propped up on her desk, his arms behind his head as he tilted back in her chair. His eyes were dancing and a deep rolling chuckle bubbled out of his chest as he saw the look on her face. "I'm pretty sure the Third wouldn't like you trying to strangle him in any form," he said jokingly.

Tsunade's face contorted into something between a knowing smile and a look of absolute fury. A sudden flash blinded her. When the spots disappeared she saw Naruto slipping a small camera into one of the small scroll holders on his vest. He looked up from buttoning the flap closed and winked. "I'll keep that for memories sake Tsunade-baba. And, of course, blackmail material."

>>>

The guards outside flinched as they heard the pitiful wails of a tortured soul emanating from their leader's office. They were quite familiar with those types of sounds and knew from experience that it was in their best interest not to intervene. The Hokage was likely to turn on them if they did. So they simply plugged their ears and prayed to the Kami for the pour soul inside.

>>>

When Naruto managed to pop the last of his appendages back into their rightful spots he chose a seat with a good angle of escape and sat down. Tsunade was smiling broadly as she relaxed in her chair. Naruto had provided the perfect outlet for her stress and now she seemed content to relax and enjoy the younger man's company.

Unfortunately business came first. Naruto coughed into his hand and reached for a small scroll in another of his pouches and handed it to the Hokage. "Because I was being sent home the weekly dispatch was sent with me," he explained as Tsunade opened the scroll and began to read.

It was all routine stuff, until she reached the last section. The reports were always penned by a scribe while the daimyou told him what to write. The last section, however, was not. It was a personal note from the Lord of the Fire Country to Tsunade concerning Naruto. As she read a smile crept onto her face. The last section was only a paragraph or two long but Tsunade read it several times knowing her delay would eat at Naruto and cause him to become restless.

Finally she eased the scroll down onto her desk and folded her hands. "Well, well, well. That is quite...interesting. Asked him yourself did you?"

Naruto nodded. He was blushing madly. He looked like he was twenty years younger for a moment as he looked down at his hands, avoiding her gaze as much as possible. This only made Tsunade grin more of course.

"You know you've just made it a whole lot easier don't you?"

Naruto nodded again.

"Good. Then lets start planning."

Naruto nodded. "Hai!"

* * *

Ah what could it be? I think I'll just leave you guessing until the new year. I'm pretty sure a lot of you can figure this out on your own. Enjoy your holiday season everyone! 


	7. End of a Generation

Well i've gone and done it. I've finished the next chapter and closed the first part of the story. I'll be the first to admit this isn't my best work. I actually don't like it too much because it's a poor immation of near perfection. I was so taken with_Fire_'s story telling in _Destiny's Child_ that I tried to imatate him. I said before thathis storygave me the idea for Bound to Eternity. I highly recommend reading it if you care anything about Ranma 1/2or, later in the story, about SailorMoon.Even if you don't you should readthe first chapter to get a sense of what I was trying to do.

* * *

A gentle breeze blew through the lines of trees that covered the small hill just outside of Konoha, whipping up a storm of Sakura blossoms and buffeting the old figure that stood beneath the trees. Petals danced about in the air creating beautiful patterns of pink and light red. The ground was littered with the little flowers. They scuttled about the roots of the surrounding cherry blossom trees as well as the legs of the lone figure. 

They caught in the man's grey hair and settled in the small contours of his traveling cloak's hood but he didn't notice. Nor did he notice the tears leaking out of his eyes and running silently down his cheeks, coursing over the faint whisker marks to slip one by one to the ground. His once vibrant blue eyes were clouded with age, memories, and tears.

Uzumaki Naruto, Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Village of the Leaf, was lost in memories so deep he felt like a man sinking in a storm on the high seas. The sea of emotions pitched him about like a cork, tossing him from one memory to the next without any control. The memories so vast and so vivid that all he could do was ride them out and hope to not loose himself among them.

>>>>

First had come the meetings with the Hokage and the elders. The arguing and bickering that had gone on between Hiashi and Tsunade before she had pulled out her trump card, the signed memo from their lord that agreed to the wedding. Hiashi had almost continued but had given in when Naruto had stepped into the council room flanked by Neji on his left and Hinata and Hanabi on his right. Having not only their lord's support but the support of the future leaders of the Hyuuga clan had made the issue a moot point and Hiashi had left muttering about inevitability and hopelessness.

Then the wedding had been planned to perfection, just as Naruto and Hinata had planned all those years ago. It was a fairly small affair with only about five hundred people in attendance set amid a sea of flowers with Naruto and Hinata's favorite tree as a back drop to the proceedings. And Naruto, ever the surprising guy, had made Sasuke his best man, much to the surprise and gratitude of the normally stoic Uchiha.

Hinata had been resplendent in a traditional white wedding kimono. She had gained in beauty since their adolescent days together and was, according to Hanabi, the spitting image of their mother. She had all but resigned from active duty life in the ninja ranks so she could teach full time at the ninja academy. She had become the most sought after teacher since Iruka-sensei's retirement some years ago and was known for her demanding courses and kind demeanor. She had grown out her hair, which now reached to her lower back when out of her usual tight curls or buns. She looked the part of a regal clan leader despite the fact that she had given up her post as the Hyuuga successor to her more talented sister.

The wedding had been wonderful. The dinner afterward was nothing short of spectacular, but it had been the party for their close friends after that that made the most memories. The drinks had flowed and jokes had been told and everyone had had a grand time. Naruto's old student Makoto had approached the new couple during the evening with a blush on his face to announce that Hanabi had agreed to marry him. But it was Tsunade that had topped the evening off with her announcement that the elders had finally agreed to Naruto as Tsunade's choice as successor to the title of Hokage. Needless to say Konohamaru had immediately challenged Naruto to a fight which the younger ninja lost a few seconds later.

Naruto assumed his role as Hokage a month later. Tsunade had stayed on as his advisor despite her age and offered him what council she could. Many were the dissenting rumblings from the local populace but when the region's daimyou personally came to congratulate him on attaining the office most of them shut up.

Naruto did all he had promised to do. He, with the help of his wife and the younger Hyuuga elite, broke the separation between branch house and main house and outlawed the use of the Caged Bird seal. He also set up and ran a new program for young kids orphaned because of deaths on missions or due to losses during war time.

Soon the orphan program became much more important to the two of them. Hinata was unable to produce a child of their own so they began to look at the kids in their program as adopted children of sorts. Hinata supported those that wanted to enter the ninja academy and helped find partnerships or jobs for those who didn't. Naruto spent some of his precious free time every week visiting with them, secretly enjoying the feeling of youthfulness he got from the kids.

Tsunade passed away in bed four years later and was given a grand funeral but, unlike the third's funeral, it was not oppressive and grey. Instead Naruto ordered that a festival take place afterward in her honor. People were reluctant at first but the idea soon caught on and by the time the sun had set people were enjoying games, dances, food, and of course, gambling.

A haggard and obviously drunk Jiriaya had appeared in Naruto's office the next day. The old Sannin presented his former student with Tsunade's will as well as his own. He told the blond that he was going on one final trip back to his home in the mountains. He would not be returning. When Naruto had insisted on coming the old man just shook his head. "No boy, I do this alone. Its all in my will." Naruto had hugged the old man and nodded silently before turning his back, refusing to watch his old teacher depart alone.

When he'd opened the wills a few days later he'd discovered that, put together, the two old sannin had left him quite a fortune as well as Jiriaya's home in the mountains. At the end of Tsunade's will was a simple note. "If you haven't told her yet, now would be a good time."

So Naruto had told Hinata his secret. It was probably the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. Hinata had sat him down and made him go over it step by step with her to make sure she understood. After several hours of explanation Hinata nodded in understanding and told him simply that it didn't matter to her. They would live their lives and when she was gone she would stay by his side as a spirit to guide him for eternity and beyond.

Then there was Sasuke's mission to destroy his brother. The Uchiha had finally gotten confirmed information about his brother's location and had asked to be allowed to go off and kill his traitor brother. Naruto knew he wouldn't have listened if he'd said no so Naruto agreed if he could come with Sasuke. So the two friends had set out for a secluded canyon in earth country and had found a sickly Uchiha Itachi in a cave hastily outfitted as a home. Their old enemy was dying. Itachi had still had some fight in him however, but not enough to compete with a full powered Sasuke with a back up Hokage. Itachi had taunted his brother as the younger man prepared for the killing blow and had refused to answer his brother's questions. In a fit of rage Sasuke had literally yanked his brother's head from his body and thrown the dismembered head against the wall. Then he had proceeded to attack Naruto. When they were done the valley was half filled in with rubble and Naruto had Sasuke slung over his shoulder.

When they'd returned home Sasuke had asked permission to kill himself. He had nothing to live for anymore. Naruto had refused him outright and blown up in his friends face for saying such things. Then he'd told the dark haired man that there was still something to live for, the rebirth of his clan. Sasuke had pondered it for a while and finally agreed. The dark man seemed to lighten up almost overnight and had married Sakura within a week, much to the surprise of the now medical specialist Jounin.

Nor were they the only ones to marry. Shikamaru finally got up the courage to ask Ino to marry him. Lee had married his former team mate Tenten years before. And even Konohamaru had gotten married to his childhood sweetheart. (The one from the special 2003 jump episode, the red four leaf clover one.) And soon the next generation was born. The Uchiha clan was reborn with a pair of healthy male twins which were followed soon after by a little girl. Lee, fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, never sired a child. Ino and Shikamaru however, managed a whopping eight.

But there were deaths as well. The older generation passed on. Iruka died of old age at 72, Kakashi died of a heart attack while training; he was 68. The other sensei's passed on as well. Some from injuries and some from illness. Parents passed too. Soon the rookies of old found that they had become the old generation, with kids and some even with grand kids.

And then Sound attacked. No one had expected it after so long. Peace had reigned for decades and Konoha was totally unprepared. Orochimaru, with a new body of course, assaulted the Hokage's offices with his most elite warriors and was met by only a token ANBU guard, Uchiha Sasuke, and the Hokage. But before Naruto could face off against the old snake Sasuke had jumped in ahead of him and, with sharingan spinning, joined battle with his former benefactor. Naruto had led the battle against the sound warriors and had quickly defeated Orochimaru's honor guard only in time to see Sasuke collapsing beneath the stroke of Orochimaru's blade. Age and youthfulness had finally turned the tide in Orochimaru's favor. Naruto's body seemed to slow to near standstill as he saw the killing strike come down on his long time friend, a confident smirk on his killer's face as he plunged the blade through the man's chest.

The next thing Naruto knew he was drenched in blood and was crying over his friend's body which he cradled against his chest much as he had so long ago on the bridge. Only this time it was for real. The amount of blood was too great, the wound too deep, and the heart long stopped. But Sasuke's was not the only blood spattered on the Hokage's cloths. Orochimaru, now a lifeless corpse who sported a hole through his chest and lacked half his head, had felt Naruto's full demonic fury as rasengans had torn him from his latest, and last body. The sound retreated, leaderless and broken, but managed to leave even more devastation in their wake then previously. The biggest loss was caused by a massive explosion that had ruined the gigantic head of the fifth hokage that had been under construction at the time. The city walls and the outlier parts of town took the most damage with only a small section right around the Hokage's office being as bad.

But Konoha rebuilt itself again and eventually it was returned to its previous splendor. Only the Hokage monument could not be repaired and indeed Naruto had refused to let work recommence at all.

After Sasuke came others. Each of them worse then the next. They were slipping through Naruto's fingers like sand. Soon only Hinata and an aging Makoto were left. Each of them had said their goodbyes, some even voicing their amazement that Naruto had outlasted them, before slipping off into the endless sleep of death. And each time the vice had gripped Naruto's heart a bit harder and each time Hinata was there to tell him that it was the way of the world, that it was his karma. He had called up his advisors and announced that he would be resigning as Hokage immediately. He was too old and wanted to spend his remaining time with his wife. The only problem was that he had no one lined up to take over once he was gone. But in a burst of insight the Hokage had appointed his good friend Makoto as temporary Hokage until the council of elders could decide on a permanent replacement. And not a moment too soon.

Hinata had stayed so healthy and strong in her late years and had shown no sign of quitting any time soon but such good grace could not last for ever. A cold laid her low and slowly ate away at her for more then three weeks. Naruto was there, for once shedding his aged guise, to be with her at the end in the privacy of their home. Hinata had looked up at him, her face wrinkled with age and care but her eyes untouched by the years, and spoken her final words.

"It's time I leave my love. But I'll continue to be with you where ever you go."

Naruto nodded listlessly, his bright blond hair the only brightness in the room. "Go dear. I'll be waiting. I love you, I always have."

Hinata had smiled sweetly, for a moment shedding the years that sat upon body, and whispered back. "I know Naruto-kun. I love you too."

Then her eyes had closed for the last time and her breaths had become shallower. Naruto stayed by, cupping her hand in his own, until her last breath left her and her soul passed out of her body.

Then he had cried.

>>>>

A lone sakura blossom came to rest on the toe of Naruto's left boot. His tear filled eyes focused on the tiny blossom, marveling at its fragility. Slowly, as if reluctant to come back to the present, his mind submerged his memories once again. The storm of emotions abated and his tears dried.

He bent down and placed the small flower on the plaque that was imbedded in the ground in front of him. All around him were other such plaques, each small stone nestled at the base of one of the Cherry Blossom trees. The one he knelt before was the most recent addition, it's companion tree likewise very new. The small tree barely reached up to Naruto's waist.

He smiled at the simple beauty of the single flower on cold black stone and read the engraving once again.

_Uzumaki Hyuuga Hinata_

_Beloved wife._

Naruto pressed his fingers to his lips then touched the stone reverently. "I'm off my dear," he said quietly. "Guide me sweet spirit. Guide me and be with me ever more."

Standing slowly Naruto dropped his genjutsu. His back unbent, his skin lost it's leathery wrinkles, and his hair brightened and once again shown like the sun. He tightened the straps of his traveling bag and adjusted his cloths. The muscles of his eighteen year old body glorifying in the release.

He glanced off to the right. Below him all of Konoha stretched out like a carpet. Then he looked down at the stone one more time, blew a kiss to it, and turned his back and began to walk.

'Good bye Konoha. I'll return some day,' he thought sadly.

The wind returned in full force and the trees above him shook, flowers spilling down to earth amid the gale. But only a single flower found its way to him. A single cherry blossom landed in his soft golden hair and lodged there; it's place on the cold stone plaque abandoned.

"_I'll continue to be with you where ever you roam my love. Till eternity come." _

* * *

No hitting, kicking, or killing me. I did what I did for specific reasons. Many of you will probably note the fact that I left alot of detail out. My response to that: I wish I could have done a whole lot more. But if I had the beginning would have dragged on forever and I would have never gotten to the real story. If you want to know about a favorite character or something of that nature you can contact me personally at my listed email address. Oh and please note that school has started again. I'll be updating when I can but don't count on it being too often. So sorry. 


	8. Beginning Again

Sorry this has taken so long to get out. As i've said before school is killer for a guy who'd rather write and play the day away. This is the beginning of the real story. Enjoy...

* * *

The mountain was as impressive as Jiriaya's reports had claimed. Mount Myouboku, former home of the Sannin Jiriaya and residence of the famous rock frog clan. Naruto had wandered for three months before reaching the famous mountain, taking his time and trying to enjoy the changing of the seasons of the land. The decision to visit the mountain had been made when his old sensei had passed away over twenty years ago but he had put it off repeatedly during is "previous" life because of his duties to Konoha. Now it was his first destination. 

The mountain was barren with not a single blade of grass anywhere on it's massive brooding form. Its peak was covered in a permanent cap of snow. It looked forlorn and desolate but a careful study of its lower valleys revealed a small cluster of buildings, the largest of which was the Myouboku Mountain Inn. The squat stone building was half sunk into the hill side and was rarely visible because of the steam and vapor clouds that rose from the collection of hot springs strewn about the landscape. The springs were renowned for their heat and healing qualities as well as for the massive rock frogs that frequented them.

A small number of homes were perched among the rocks above the inn. Naruto, now disguised as a twenty something with black spiky hair and minus his Leaf forehead protector, bypassed the inn and strode up among the houses.

Jiriaya's will had indicated the house's location and method of entry. Naruto found the place with no trouble at all. It was a modest looking place sunk into the hillside with a few windows and a single door. Naruto strode over to the door and, when he was sure no one was watching, bit his finger and ran the blood over a small flat piece of metal inset in the heavy wooden door. Stepping back Naruto watched as the small metal plate fizzled and smoked. The blood disappeared revealing a symbol that Naruto was unfamiliar with. But before he could study it closer the symbol vanished and the door swung open, admitting him to the entryway.

Inside was as bare as the outside. A couch and chair around a small table. A telescope on a tripod next to one of the windows for peeping down at the hot springs girls. A small kitchenette that looked like it had never been used. A bathroom, a study, and a bedroom rounded out the rooms of the house. There was a single picture of the legendary three and their sensei the Third Hokage on the main room wall, other then that there were no pictures anywhere in the house.

"I'd expected more out of the old man," Naruto said in a low mumble as he dropped his travel pack in the mud room with his shoes. He glanced at the picture on the wall and tried to glare at his old sensei's visage.

"With all the money you had old man I had expected you to at least live a bit better."

A quick inspection of the kitchenette however brought his opinion up a bit when he found a full case of instant ramen and some of the old sennin's best sake in the otherwise empty cabinets. However old they were they were still food.

After a rousing bowl of ramen and a swig of sake Naruto began to browse through the study. The room was honeycombed with shelves, all built into the walls of the room. A single cushion was propped up in the corner of the room. The scrolls and books that packed the shelves covered such a broad range of subjects that Naruto doubted Jiriaya had ever bothered to read most of them. The old sennin had never shown he'd had any knowledge in most of the subjects these books represented. Naruto smiled for the first time in days at the thought of owning all these books and not reading one. It seemed stupid, and yet, so very Jiriaya-ish.

Then, quite suddenly, the brilliance of it all dawned on Naruto. There wasn't a single book or scroll here that had anything to do with being a ninja. It was the perfect way to keep petty thieves and idiot ninja away from the true treasure. But where would Jiriaya put it?

Naruto slammed the book he'd been looking through shut and stuffed it back where it had been. He felt disgusted with himself for not realizing it sooner. For a retired Hokage he wasn't off to a great start.

The bedroom seemed like the most obvious place to find something so Naruto started there. The room was the farthest back in the house with no windows at all. A closet, a dresser, a chair, and a bed were all that was there. The closet was largely empty except for a box of Jiriaya's novels and a few pairs of cloths that Naruto had never seen the old man wear. The dresser was almost totally empty as well except for a candle and matches in one of the top drawers.

Considering how many options for hiding a secret passage entry there were in such a sparsely furnished room it took Naruto an incredible amount of time to actually find it. The hole was barely big enough for a grown man to fit through but it had to be small since what covered it hadn't been that big to start with. Naruto chuckled lightly as he shoved the box of Jiriaya's novels further out of the way so he could uncover the hole completely.

The hole dropped strait down. The light from the room penetrated only about a meter in and from what he could see it seemed to continue on indefinitely. Naruto sat on his haunches for a moment or two and simply peered downward in the blackness. Then with a scratch of his hair he went over and retrieved the candle and matches.

Moments later the lit candle dropped down the hole with Naruto watching after it idly. The flickering light never made it to the ground however. It was neatly cut off about ten meters down by several concealed blades that flashed out from the walls. The ten pieces of candle, with one piece still burning brightly, descended another five meters before being turned into very fine particles by four jets of white hot fire. A strong hot breeze blasted Naruto's hair for a second before it was shut off by a huge rock slab slamming into place less then an inch from the opening.

Naruto's mouth worked a bit before he finally stood.

"Guess I should be glad I didn't jump first and check later," he mumbled. He replaced the box of books and left the room.

After draining a full bottle of sake Naruto decided to make for the hot springs. It was late by now. Most of the house's around him had doused their lights but several were still on at the inn. Using them as a reference point as well as the moon, stars, and smell of the hot springs Naruto set off with only his shorts, sandals, and towel.

>>>>

There were few bathers out at this time of night, for which Naruto was extremely thankful, and the few that were tended to stick to the baths closest to the inn proper.

Naruto chose a spring near the edge of the largest cluster. It was only about ten feet across and didn't get any deeper then Naruto's shoulders. It was shielded by a small cluster of rocks from the wind and prying eyes. The heat seeped into Naruto's skin and soothed muscles and aching joints, eliciting a sigh of gratitude from the young man. Naruto dropped his ageing technique and allowed his body to fully enjoy the pleasures of the spring. But a lifetime of ninja training kept his senses on alert even in repose. So he wasn't in the least surprised when an older man stepped out of the mists and eased himself into the spring opposite of him. He looked like he was in his mid fifties. Balding, tubby, and beginning to wrinkle up around the edges. A deep grunt of satisfaction told Naruto's well honed senses that this man was used to yelling orders.

The man, who'd apparently not noticed Naruto when he got in, looked slightly surprised to find another person in the spring with him. By then Naruto had already changed back to his former appearance so the sight that greeted the man was of a person half his age with black spiky hair and blue eyes.

The older man grunted again and nodded to Naruto. "I don't usually find people sharing this spring with me at nights." His tone didn't show he was extremely pleased but he certainly wasn't angry about it.

Naruto smiled and motioned with one hand at the pool they shared. "It was small and out of the way so I didn't figure I'd be having visitors either."

A grunt and a small smile was the man's response.

"If you'd like I can find another spring," Naruto said.

"No that's fine young man. No need."

Naruto chuckled under his breath at the age comment. Since he'd hit sixty it had been sort of a joke for him. Almost every time he'd managed to escape from his job as Hokage for a few hours under disguise as a much younger person he'd gotten at least one 'youth' remark directed at him.

Naruto shook himself out of his momentary jaunt down memory lane to find the man looking at him carefully. Before Naruto could ask him what he'd found so interesting the man spoke.

"You're not a guest of the inn are you? I don't seem to recall your face and we haven't had any new visitors in the past few days."

Naruto shook his head. "I just arrived today, and no I'm not staying at the inn sir." Naruto wondered how close to the truth he could come with this man. "I'm here to take care of the house of an old friend of the family who passed away some years back. I'm staying there."

Lines appeared on the old man's brow and his eyes darkened. "So you're here to take care of that old pervert's house are you? Old lecher was always sneaking into the women's bathing areas to get a glimpse. You don't take after him do you?"

Naruto shook his head adamantly. "No sir. I was married, once. Nothing like him." Naruto sighed inwardly. While he didn't like putting down his long time sensei he had to do it to keep this man from thinking him a pervert as well. Naruto had done it countless times while Jiriaya was alive and never cared but now that he was dead and gone it felt almost treasonous to speak badly of his former friend and master.

The statement seemed to be enough for the other man because he didn't say anything more for a while. The two of them soaked in relative silence until Naruto began to loose feeling in his now excessively pruned toes. Exiting the spring he grabbed his town and wrapped it around his waist. As he was slipping his sandals back on the old man spoke again.

"Judging by your footwear and muscle structure I'm guessing you're a ninja."

Naruto stopped, his left foot half way into his shoe, then after a moment's hesitation continued. "Not really," he replied once he'd managed to slip his last shoe on. "I tried it. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be." Naruto hoped beyond hope that his cool attitude and smart comment would be enough to convince the older man.

The man raised an eyebrow as a smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. "You're not a very good liar young man. But I can understand your reluctance. Mission secrecy and all."

Naruto was speechless for a moment. When he finally managed to find his voice again he couldn't help but ask the question. "Why do you think I'm on a mission?"

Raising himself slightly out of the water the old man motioned to his surroundings. "You chose a secluded spring during the off hours. Normally guests will seek out more popular springs for fear of intruding on one of the local rock frogs. And it isn't uncommon for us to get ninja at our inn. Besides," the old man reached back to his own towel and pulled from underneath it a pair of shoes almost identical to Naruto's. "being a former nin myself it's pretty easy to spot a fellow shadow warrior."

Naruto eyed the shoes. They had seen better days but he could still tell that they had originally been gray in color. Combined with the man's somewhat craggy features Naruto pegged him as a former Hidden Stone ninja.

The old man put his shoes back where they'd been and sank back into the water, all the time eyeing Naruto. Throwing caution to the wind Naruto took his shoes off again and sat at the water's edge, allowing his legs to dip back into the pleasant warmth of the spring. After adjusting his towel to make sure he was both comfortable and not in danger of revealing himself he looked back over at the old man and smiled.

"Guess there's no point in denying it. Yeah I'm a ninja but I'm not officially part of any village any more. I gave up the life and moved on a couple of months ago after my wife died." Not exactly true but not really false either. Naruto pointed at the other man's shoes. "Hidden Stone?"

A true smile appeared on the older man's face and he nodded. "Correct in one. And you'd be Hidden Leaf?"

Naruto simply nodded.

"Well then if you're not active ninja why are you here?"

Naruto jerked a thumb towards the hill where Jiriaya's house stood. "Same reason I said before. Came to take care of the old man's house."

The frown returned to the other man's face for a moment. "I don't mean to pry how long are you planning on staying here?"

The former Hokage tightened his lips a bit and tilted his head back to gaze up into the star studded heavens. He still didn't know what he was going to do with all the years that Kyuubi had granted him.

At first he'd thought he might begin to travel the elemental countries and learn all the jutsu he could, much as Orochimaru had hoped to do but without time or age constraints. But after becoming hokage Naruto had realized that he really didn't want to do that. Simply perfecting the ones he knew and knowing how to apply them in any situation had become more important. He still didn't often pass up a chance to learn a new jutsu but it wasn't as important to him as it once had been.

When his seventies had rolled around he'd begun to think about simply staying on in Konoha under another name and face but that idea had faded after several years much as half a dozen other ideas had. So when the time had come to choose he'd had to fall back on his last ditch idea, travel. Not that he didn't like to travel, it was just that he hadn't known where to travel beyond the already promised stop at Jiriaya's. And now that he was there he wasn't sure what to do next. Figuring out how to access Jiriaya's secret chambers that the old man had hinted at in his will would keep him occupied for a while. Beyond that there was no real reason to stay in the area.

Naruto let out a long resigned sigh before looking back down at his fellow bather. "I'm not sure myself. My life is empty now that I've left my former one behind. I came here simply because I'd promised to do it for the old man at some point." He bent forward and propped his head on his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "I'm trying to find something he left behind for me but after I find it I don't really have any reason to stay. Problem is I don't know where I'd go next or what I'd do."

The old man across from him nodded in understanding. "So just passing through then," he said flatly. The man shifted his body a bit till he was in a more comfortable position before speaking again. "Well if you're gonna be here for a while then I might as well offer you a job."

Naruto sat up strait.

"I'm the crew boss for the inn workers as well as the head of security here. But I'm getting to the point where I can't handle both jobs, especially my security post. If you don't mind making security rounds or cleaning the odd hot spring I'd be willing to hire you part time."

It was certainly a good idea Naruto thought. He didn't really need the money but having something to do when he wasn't searching the house was probably a good thing. It would keep him out of trouble and be a help to the inn at the same time.

Naruto stood with a smile. "I'll think about it," he said as he slipped his shoes back on and gathered up his pants. "I'll come and find you when I've decided."

The other man nodded with a smile of his own splitting his craggy features. "I should be easy to find. Just follow the yells."

Naruto chuckled. He'd known several people throughout his life who could be found using the same method, himself being one of them.

"What was your name young man?"

'Crap!'

Naruto hadn't even thought of a choosing another name before now. Obviously he couldn't use his own name, especially around a former nin. His mind raced through the names he knew and rejected most before they'd even come to them. Then, quite suddenly, it clicked.

He turned and brushed his free hand back through his spiky black hair, trying for the calm, cool, collected, and hip look Sasuke had always managed to present. "Uzu Makkuro. And yours?"

The man poked himself in the chest with a meaty thumb. "Tamaishi. Just Tamaishi."

"I'll remember that," Naruto said as he formed a seal and vanished into the night.

* * *

**Makkuro Pitch Black** Reference to Naruto's hair which is, at the moment, very black. Uzu is just a shortened version of Uzumaki. 

**Tamaishi Boulder** The guy's from Hidden Stone, you figure it out.

People have asked how my age stopping theory thing works. I'll try to explain it. Basically Kyuubi froze Naruto's body when it was most of the way through the healing process, leaving more scaring then usual on the chakra pathways. Tsunade didn't spend the time to actually watch to see if the healing was still going on. She simply saw that it was already partly healed up and came to the wrong conclusion that the healing process was still underway when in fact it wasn't. And no the scars don't hurt when chakra passes over them, unless of course something like that were to happen again. The kyuubi enhanced healing is still active so Naruto still heals abnormally fast. Naruto was basically flash frozen at that particular point in time and then continued on with his life. I hope that helps a bit.


	9. Games in the Night

It's been a long while I must admit, but i'm back. Finals finished today and i'm finally able to spend some time writing without feeling really guilty. Like always, I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It was a bleary eyed, sleep deprived, and much charred Makkuro (which is what Naruto will be referred to for a while) that found Tamaishi three days later directing workers on the backside of the inn. 

Makkuro had spent most of his time between meeting the old nin and the present working on getting down into secret passage below Jiriaya's old room. After smashing the stone door, disabling the blades, and finding a shield jutsu powerful enough to block the jets of fire, he'd finally gotten down there only to find a dead end. The little room beyond the fire jets was scattered with the charred remains of several would be thieves and at least one ninja of undetermined nationality. After inspecting the remains Naruto/Makkuro moved on to the walls. After a bit of careful inspection he found a single word scratched into the rocky wall.

'_Library'_

After punching the wall a few times in frustration he'd proceeded to exit the room. Unfortunately the jutsu he'd used to block the flame jets didn't last long enough for him to fully get out. He'd ended up shooting out of the hole well done and screaming bloody murder.

Once he'd cleaned himself up as best he could he'd gone to the library room and pulled out every single book and scroll from its place. Five kunai traps and close to a thousand items later he'd managed to find nothing interesting hidden behind the books and scrolls. Another bottle of sake was consumed before the books and scrolls were returned to their shelves.

Needless to say Naruto/Makkuro was not in the best shape but he felt he had to do something constructive before allowing himself the opportunity to rest.

Tamaishi smelled the faint scent of charred flesh coming from behind him and stopped giving orders to see what was causing the smell. The sight that confronted him was something only a ninja or a pyromaniac would have found funny. A sullen Makkuro stood with his hands in the pockets of his pants. The pants, along with the rest of his ensemble, were blackened and burnt at the edges. What was visible of his skin was a light pink, showing that he hadn't completely healed from the burns he'd received. His hair seemed untouched.

Tamaishi coughed into his meaty hand to cover a bark of laughter at the sight. Makkuro glared at him and shifted uncomfortably, obviously in pain in places he didn't want to be.

When the coughing stopped Makkuro stepped forward and held out his hand. "It looks like I'll be staying a while. I'll take the job."

Tamaishi, still with a hint of a smile on his face, engulfed the younger man's hand in his own and squeezed. Makkuro's mouth twitched at the pressure on his still smarting hand but refused to say anything about it.

"Good," Tamaishi said in a gruff baritone. "We've been a bit shorthanded lately." He gestured to the obvious work being done on the backside of the inn. From what Makkuro could see they were working on the kitchen and service area. "We've had to pull workers from the baths to keep construction deadlines. If its not too much trouble I'm gonna put you on the night shift for the bath crew and hand over half of the night security to you as well. You'll be puttin out towels and keeping the bathing area's clean for the first one. That goes from eight till bout ten then security goes from ten till five. Think you can handle that?"

Makkuro shrugged. He didn't especially want to do the bath work, but a job was a job so he wasn't about to complain. "Sure. That's fine. Just show me what to do and I'll do it." He glanced down at his cloths. "What should I wear?"

Tamaishi chuckled and cast an eye over the younger man's charred cloths again. "Well certainly not that," he said, pointing at the offending clothing. "I'll have someone send up some stuff for the bath job. I'm sure you've got something that would work better for the security post though."

"Just have em leave it in front of the door. I need to catch up on some rest before then."

The older man nodded as a crude grin split his face. "So what happened?"

Makkuro knew what Tamaishi was asking about and decided to tell the truth. "Got caught on the receiving end of a fire trap," he said as he turned and left. The sound of laughter followed him all the way home.

>>>>

Naruto/Makkuro woke refreshed and feeling much better then he had when he'd gone to bed. A quick look at the clock in the kitchen told him he had half an hour to get to work. The cloths that had been left at the door were not what he'd expected. A nice black short sleeve dress shirt complemented the long light brown slacks. His new name was sewn into the left breast of his shirt in gold lettering. An little whistle of appreciation escaped his lips as he slipped on the cloths. They were very comfortable and provided ease of movement. Makkuro finished it off with a nice black belt and then gathered a small bag for the cloths he'd be donning afterward for his second job.

He had no trouble picking out where Tamaishi was. He easily had the largest chakra signature in the valley outside of Naruto's own so homing in on him didn't take much time.

After a brief tour of the facility Tamaishi put Makkuro to work restocking towels, cleaning unoccupied areas, and delivering drinks to thirsty late night bathers. He was an instant hit with the ladies of the baths. His muscular arms, broad shoulders, and dazzling sky blue eyes grabbed the attention of practically every female and even a few resentful males who disliked the fact that their women were looking elsewhere. But even they had a hard time disliking the smiling blue eyes or the lithe body that moved among them, happily taking care of their needs.

Makkuro found that he sort of liked this job. It required little thought so he could devote more time to being thoughtful and nice to customers. But all too soon his two hours of work in the baths and spas done and he was directed to the front office where Tamaishi waited for him. The lopsided grin on the old man's face told Makkuro that he'd done well.

He changed quickly into the cloths he'd brought with him in his bag. A long sleeve net shirt, a slightly shorter black turtleneck, matching black pants, gloves, and a dark blue lightweight version of an ANBU's vest. His weapon's pouch and leg holster were in their traditional spots. Topping it all off was a black half mask much like Kakashi had worn. He wore no clan or ninja marking.

Tamaishi nodded his approval. The older man wore his normal work cloths but added his old battered grey flack jacket and his leg holster. The vest was obviously designed for someone smaller then him and Makkuro doubted the man had ever been able to get it zipped up properly.

"Well then," the old stone nin said. "Why don't we give you a little test run? Your objective is to get behind the reception desk without me stopping you and without alarming the guests. You'll start from the outer most springs and go from there. If you can get past me we'll switch spots and I'll try the same. Think you can do that?"

Makkuro's grin couldn't have been more cocky. "Sure thing old man. Just try to keep up," he said as he slipped his mask up into place and stepped out the door. He hadn't gone six steps beyond the doorway when he promptly vanished. Tamaishi blinked and smiled ruefully. This was going to be fun.

>>>>

Naruto stopped when he reached the last hot spring and turned back to look over the valley floor to the bright lights of the inn slightly more then half a mile away. His grin was still in place. He hadn't had a chance to have fun like this in years. The last time he'd done something like this it was for the Jounin exams. Konohamaru's team had been trying out. The then Hokage Naruto had chosen to step in personally during one of the tests as a member of the opposing force. His friendship with the younger ninja had not been lost over the years and Naruto had considered him his younger brother. And as such it was the older brother's job to make the younger's life a living hell. Naruto had tailed the team the whole way to their objective and had confronted them, in separate disguises and varying numbers, at least four times before they had managed to slip past him using a combined Jounin level genjutsu technique that left Naruto incapacitated for fifteen minutes. Time enough for them to slip away and complete their mission. Naruto had congratulated them personally the next day and, when asked how he had known, he'd transformed into one of their opponents and rattled off one of the cheesy lines he'd used to confront them.

Now he'd get to do it all over again.

Forming a familiar seal with his fingers he began to plan.

>>>>

Tamaishi stood outside in the dark in front of the double doors of the inn. Or at least a bunshin of him did. The clone stood there looking menacing, backlit by the light that poured out of the doors behind him. The real Tamaishi crouched in the shadows at the far left corner of the inn. From his position he could easily see the front entrance, the clone, and a good majority of the hot springs.

After waiting fifteen minutes some movement out among the darker recesses of the hot spring rocks caught the old man's attention. He focused on the spot for several seconds but whatever was there had stopped moving. Then more movement caught his attention, only this time it was further right. This movement stopped almost as fast as it had started as well. Within three minutes he spotted at least seven more half seen figures slipping around the rocks and pools of the hot springs, all in different locations.

'Are they bunshin or is he just incredibly fast?' Tamaishi wondered. 'Or is it genjutsu of some sort?'

After a minute without sign of any further movement Tamaishi directed his clone back inside. If Makkuro thought that the clone had really been him then he might give away his position once the clone's back was turned. No sooner had the clone disappeared indoors then he spotted more movement. First from one spot then another. 'Got to be clones, they're too widely dispersed to be all the same guy,' Tamaishi thought. 'He's using them to distract me.'

The older ninja was about to turn away and dismiss them as purely bunshin when one of them caused a small stone to fall as it passed an unoccupied pool. He swore silently as he readjusted his position. He'd almost been fooled but now that he'd seen through it he knew what to do.

Something bounced off the hidden man's head, prompting him to jump slightly. He picked up the offending object and found that it was a small stone. Several more fell beside him. He glanced upward to see a slippered foot scramble over the edge of the roof, knocking loose a few more of the small rocks.

He swore, this time not so quietly, as he broke concealment and raced for the front door. A flash of white distracted him long enough to see a bit of white curtain flapping in the breeze from a darkened window. It hadn't been there a minute ago. He knew for a fact that that room was unoccupied.

'If he's inside then he's a step ahead of me. Damn!'

Tamaishi ducked through the doorway and took cover against the nearest wall. His clone was still there, leaning against the front desk.

A creak in the floorboards on the landing above announced the presence his opponent. He dug a kunai out of his leg pouch and stepped away from the wall only to see a shadowy figure slip into an open doorway part way down the left hall. He caught just enough of the person's foot to know it was clad in ninja sandals. The click of the door handle was audible even from where he stood in the foyer.

'How the hell is he doing this!' Tamaishi thought as he dashed over to the desk, dispersing his clone as he approached. Another moving shadow ducked out of sight down the right hall. The old man tensed. His opponent was closing in on him and he knew it.

Just then a group of three bathers, with towels around their necks, descended the stairs. They were happily chatting about how good the water was going to be tonight. They nodded politely to Tamaishi as they passed him, not noticing his drawn weapon that he'd hurriedly stuffed behind his back, and walked out the door and out of sight.

A little sigh of relief escaped his lungs as the door closed behind them. Then, quite abruptly, the lights cut out. Trained reflexes spun the old man. The knife flew from his fingertips. Even in the dark he knew where the fuse box was situated and his aim proved it. When the lights snapped back on a moment later the kunai was imbedded in the wood post mere centimeters away from the catch to the little power box's door. Only there wasn't anyone there.

The old man's eyebrow quirked. 'How did the lights come back on?' he wondered.

The front desk's phone rang.

Before he could turn to answer it someone else did.

"Myouboku Mountain Inn front desk, how can I help you?"

Makkuro, comfortably seated behind the desk swivelled around in his chair, his hand over the receiver. He looked over at Tamaishi. "It's for you. Should I tell them you're unavailable?" he asked in a light hearted tone. A subtle glint of mischief sparkled in his eyes. His mask was pulled down around his neck in a casual manner.

Tamaishi grunted.

Makkuro swung back around. "I'm sorry he's not available at the moment, could you call back later? ... Ok then, you're welcome. ... Goodbye."

The young black haired ninja swivelled back around to face his boss once more, a grin splitting his suddenly cheerful face.

"How?" Tamaishi asked in a whisper. Then he scowled. "How did you do that boy?" he asked.

Naruto rolled his mental eyes at the question. 'He must not have gotten around much as a ninja if he doesn't know Kage Bunshin.' Makkuro tapped his nose with a finger, winking at the same time.

"Why would I tell you? I have to have _some_ secrets you know."

Tamaishi 'humphed' as he walked over to the fuse box and yanked his kunai out of the post next to it. He inspected the box carefully. After a few moments he turned around scratching his head. "You never touched the box did you?"

Makkuro shook his head. "I'm not particularly good at genjutsu but I do know a few." He smiled inwardly as an idea popped into his head. The jutsu he'd used had the same name as his false identity. 'Well now I know a bit more about Uzu Makkuro,' Naruto thought.

"The one I used, Makkuro no Jutsu (Pitch Black Technique), is a technique that effects the eyesight of my target. It creates a false darkness that, in the right situation, can make someone think the lights have been turned off or that they've lost the use of their eyes. A family specialty."

The older man nodded thoughtfully. "Then how about all those clones? That couldn't have been genjutsu. One of them knocked rocks down on my head from the roof."

The black haired ninja winked again. "Sorry, that one's secret."

Tamaishi glared then waved absently with his kunai. "Fine then. Maybe you can answer this one. How did you enter? The roof? A window?"

Makkuro's smile dropped a bit. This was the most disappointing part of the whole exercise. The way he'd come in proved that either the old man wasn't a good ninja at all or that he had been panicking at that point. Neither one was very good. "I came in right behind you. I could have reached out and put a kunai in your back as you walked through the door."

The old man paled as what Makkuro said hit him but he recovered quickly. He coughed slightly and looked away. "I find it hard to believe someone as good as you would simply up and leave the Leaf. Why weren't you stopped? Why aren't there Hunter Nin on your ass?"

"Because they think I'm dead."

Tamaishi looked at him for a long moment as if trying to judge what he'd said was true or not. He finally just nodded.

Makkuro stood and stretched, his whole body arching in the process. "So we gonna go again or what?" he asked.

"I don't see why not," the former stone ninja said in a neutral tone. "I could use another challenge. Give me twenty minutes to start," he said as he holstered his kunai and walked sedately out the door.

The former blond waited a couple minutes to make sure his opponent was gone before giving a light whistle. Twelve shadow clones appeared around him, popping out from behind doors, floorboards, plants, and even one from behind the chandelier. The real Makkuro addressed them all quietly. "Good job guys. Well done. Transform so you don't look so obvious."

Some of the clones had to think for a minute before transforming. Eventually there were twelve utterly different people standing around their leader.

"Ok now, just like we planned it. Don't let him see you until you have to move got it?" Twelve heads nodded. "Ok, break." The clones vanished again, dispersing as per orders to varied locations around the inn. Within seconds Makkuro was alone again. He looked out the door into the night, a small predatory smile playing on his lips.

'So Tamaishi, how will you do it? More importantly, how far will you get before I catch you?'

* * *

Eh, what can I say? I would put Tamaishi's attempt in but at the moment i'm wondering if I should. I've got more important places to go with this story. I guess we'll see won't we. Thanks all for stayin with me through my long absense. Hope you enjoyed. 


	10. And the Beat Goes On

Being the end of spring break and all I thought I should post up what I've been able to write up during the week. It is, unfortunately, not as much as I would have liked but since I did promise to write more I figured I needed to do this for those people who follow my stories with even a micron of interest.

* * *

Tamaishi was still fuming days later. 

After his horrible defense of the inn from Makkuro's mock attack he'd gone out to see if he could get revenge on the younger nin. The older man knew he wasn't much for sneaking in comparison to most ninja, his specialty always having been his brute physical strength and toughness, but he couldn't very well start an all out brawl with his opponent in the middle of the inn. His limited jutsu selection was mostly off bounds as well seeing as all but the basic ones had to do with massive ground destruction. So he'd opted for the simple approach. Using henge to disguise himself as a bather he waited for a group of guests to begin making their way back to the inn. He joined them and fell into character as best he could. He had gotten as far as the side door when one of his fellow bathers had slid up next to him and smiled. "Care to try again Tamaishi-sempai?" the man had asked nicely. The old stone nin stopped in his tracks and glared at the other man. Once the other bathers had walked out of sight his opponent had smiled and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Tamaishi had tried twice more, each time disguised as someone new and each time trying a different entrance. Neither time had seen him get more then two or three steps inside the building before being confronted by his opponent. The last time he had asked how the boy had known. Makkuro, this time disguised as one of the kitchen staff since Tamaishi had tried to get in through the kitchen, had pointed down at his opponent's right leg. Tamaishi had followed his gaze and had found himself looking at a strange lump on his leg. "You're not quite as good at henge as you thought you were Tamaishi-sempai. Not many people have a lump on their leg that looks exactly like a weapons holster."

Now as he watched his new charge making his way around the baths, attending to the needs of the customers, he couldn't quite make him self hate the younger man as much as he thought he might have been able to. The other's smile and constant good humor effected everyone around him. In the week since he'd started Makkuro had become a big favorite among both the customers and the inn employees. People had started leaving him tips, an almost unheard of thing in the bathing area, and even the inn manager had proposed a slight wage increase, an idea which Makkuro had promptly turned down stating that he didn't need the extra money.

Tamaishi shook his head at the idea of a young man turning down money. Yet he had done it. He sighed. 'I wonder if our new superman would consent to help in the kitchen?'

Naruto flopped down on the couch in Jiriaya's old place, releasing his age jutsu in the process. It was just after five in the morning. Tonight had marked his first full week of employment at the inn. He had quickly settled into a routine. Work would start at eight in the evening and run through till five the next morning. Naruto/Makkuro would then promptly go home, have a quick snack, and drop off to sleep. He would wake up just past noon and have another meal. Then he would tromp into the library and begin his search for information yet again. Another meal at seven thirty and then the whole process would start again.

So far he'd had no success in the library. He'd pulled out and returned the books at least a dozen times. He'd covered every inch of the room and found nothing special about the place outside of the kunai traps he'd found the first day. Then yesterday he'd begun to actually look at the books and scrolls, reading their titles and seeing if any of them could possible hold information that might be of some use to him.

What he'd found, while not what he'd wanted, was still quite interesting. There were books on politics and nation building(a few of which he'd read already), cooking(several of these found their way to the kitchen), psychology(ugh), history(slightly less ugh then psychology), novels of every type(one already had it's place in his utility pouch), and everything else in between.

The blond sighed and got up from the couch. He needed food.

Once in the kitchen he flipped open one of the cooking books he'd pulled out and began to learn how to make an omelet. He had gone to the inn's kitchen yesterday and begged off two arm loads full of cooking ingredients from the cooks. Ramen having lost some of it's interest over the years.

Several minutes later a very crude conglomeration of eggs and cheese was shoveled into his mouth and downed with a bit of sake.

After long shower and another small glass of sake Naruto flopped into bed and was snoring moments later.

>>>>

**A year and a half later:**

"ARGH! HOW COULD I RUIN MISO SOUP!" Naruto/Makkuro yelled in frustration as he quickly flipped off the stove and pulled the boiling mixture away towards the sink. He plopped the large pot in the sink and began to shovel ice into the sink around it to cool it down. Once that was finished he grabbed a rag and began to clean up the mess he'd made, all the while glaring at the novel he'd dropped in his rush to save his meal. He hadn't intended to read for that long while he waited for his soup to cook but the new book had sucked him in and he hadn't noticed the disaster in the kitchen until he'd looked up to see steam and smoke pouring from the stove.

He finished the mop up and went over to check on his soup. Most of the ice was already gone because of the heat but now the soup was to a point where he wasn't concerned about boiling his tongue alive if he took a sip. He ladled out a bowl for himself and took it back over to the couch. He had to side step several piles of books and scrolls on the way. Once he got to the couch he had to clear a spot on the small table so he could put down his bowl. It was no mean feat seeing as there were so many books and papers piled up on and around the low lying furniture. But after a bit of careful shuffling a spot was created and he settled down to continue his reading.

The book was a real classic. Samurai and intrigue ran rampant through its pages. The twisted mental processes of its major players and the political games they played were massive in their scope. From the beat up appearance of the book Jiriaya had read it several times himself, an incredible feat since a majority of the books in the library room had never been read by the dead sannin.

Naruto wasn't making the same mistake.

After his initial search through the library he had begun to pick out random books to read as a side activity to his search for Jiriaya's secrets. Within several weeks however Naruto had almost totally dropped the search all together in favor of reading. The stacks of books spread throughout the house were a testament to his reading fervor.

The currently blond ninja frowned at a location name that had started to come up more and more often. He flipped back both covers, looking for a map of some sort but found none. From reading the forward he knew the locations described in the book were real but without a map he had no idea where they were in relation to each other. Getting frustrated he set the book down and went in search of a visual aid.

Among the books in the library there was a small section on travel that might be of some assistance. He'd picked through a few of the books at one time, mostly the ones dealing with the elemental countries themselves, but he knew there were others as well. Squatting down amid mountains of displaced books he began to search the now only partially full shelves. Several minutes of careful searching found him a likely candidate. It's cover was bent with frequent use, more in fact then any other book he'd seen so far in Jiriaya's collect.(outside of the hentai stuff of course) Nabbing the book he made his way back to the couch.

Opening up both books he found the word he was looking for in the novel and then began his search in the second. It didn't take him long to find the word he was looking for. The only problem was that the city he was looking for was apparently no longer under the same name. 'So it's Tokyo instead of Edo now. Hmm.' He turned a page and looked at the country itself, several pieces of paper falling out of the book in the process. Catching the loose papers he placed them on the couch and took a look at the book.

The page was heavily marked with Jiriaya's tight handwriting. Arrows pointed to various places on the map with detailed notes below. Most of the notes seemed to be about temples and various holy places. Those that weren't focused on famous bath houses or beaches.

Naruto grabbed the notes that had fallen out and began to read. The first page was taken up by a more detailed list of significant holy places, most with names he had never heard of. After each was a brief sentence or two of a more personal nature. Half way down the list Naruto began to get in inkling of what Jiriaya was writing about. The paragraph at the bottom of the list only confirmed it. His heart beat quickened as he read it.

"_No real progress was gained from these sites, all though I did obtain significant insight into the workings of various written wards and barrier techniques. This land's histories indicate that they did at one time have the knowledge I am looking for but it seems to have been lost over time. Though these were unsuccessful I can't help but feel I'm missing something here. This place has a very strange aura about it that I cannot explain and it intrigues me. I will pass on these notes to the shrimp if I ever find the time to explain it all to him. Maybe his inner knowledge dealing with the seal, and the demon itself, will lead him to find that which has eluded me." _

A shiver ran down his spine as he read the last sentence. 'The seal, he was looking for information about the seal!' Naruto looked at the notes again. Several had dates next to them. 'So that's where Jiriaya went after the Battle of the Youkai Barrens.'

The old sannin had vanished soon after the battle and hadn't reappeared for three years, the longest Naruto had ever known him to be gone for. He had never asked where the old man went to on any of his journeys. Now he felt almost cheated for not having done so.

Naruto jumped nearly a foot in the air when a buzzer went off in the kitchen. Then he cursed himself for not noticing the time. He had twenty minutes to get down to work. Reluctantly he returned the paper to its place in the book and went off to change.

His arms and legs moved automatically, going through the motions of changing into his work cloths without help from his brain. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to do it. His mind was swirling with the possibilities that the notes represented. He hadn't looked at the other pages but his imagination was already filling them out for him. Visions of a life without the fox were the most prevalent. Naruto wasn't even sure what a life like that would be like.

A half heard chuckle echoed down the corridors of his brain, reminding him that the fox was still very much there. The nine tailed demon hadn't spoken up in years now outside of the occasional grumble or laugh. Naruto suspected it had to do with the lack of him tapping the demon's chakra. Fighting Orochimaru had been the last time Naruto had used the demon's chakra. After that Naruto had not partaken in any battles dangerous enough to warrant the fox's use. In fact Naruto hadn't even been mildly injured from that point on. So after thirty or forty years of disuse Naruto's connection to the fox had weakened. He no longer dreamed the fox's nightmare-ish dreams or had rousing mental verbal sparring matches with the demon. It was as if the beast inside of him had lost its voice; or at least its ability to project or communicate to him in all but the weakest of ways.

He shook his head and grabbed up his small bag full of his ninja gear. As he moved towards the door his path deviated slightly. He found himself stopped beside the couch, looking down at the travel atlas. The tip of the loose pages were barely visible in the corner. His hand itched to pick the book up and take it with him. On its own violation it began to slide down the pillow towards the unsuspecting book.

Naruto slammed down on the impulse, exerting his considerable will against it. His hand stopped inches from the book. 'NO! I'll look at them tomorrow. Not Now!' Forcing the hand into motion again he reached past the atlas and snagged his novel. This he could take with him. This was safe. With a mental snort he turned his back on the atlas and willed himself to the door.

A quick check to see that he had everything showed that he wasn't in disguise. A flick of a mental switch later his hair had darkened and his physical age had increased eight years. Uzu Makkuro opened the door to the little house and shut it with a click.

* * *

Yes, short, I know. Naruto's stay at the inn is going to be short lived. Things are going to suddenly come to a point in the next chapter. You can already see a bit of this with the travel atlas. If you can't tell or if I didn't make it clear already this will be a cross over fic. With which anime I will not directly say yet but let it be known I already have a good portion of it figured out. And since I like the ideas I've come up with in the cross over department I'm going to hurry along the story so I can get there. 

Someone raised a question. Where is Gaara? Ehehehe...good question. Where IS Gaara? Actually I have no clue. I've found Gaara hard to write and I'm not his biggest fan so I've just left him out of the story. Plus I've always gotten the impression that his demon isn't anywhere near bad ass and tough as Kyuubi.


	11. Ghosts of Nights Past

Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that for as long as I have but job searching and planning trips take alot of time and energy, as do school reports. I'll admit this one is gonna be short but i'm sure you'll be howling for more shortly. Just don't kill me when you're done.

You guys know I don't own this junk right...

* * *

Makkuro yawned and leaned back in his comfy chair behind the main desk of the inn. He'd learned quickly that it was not necessary to spend the entire night outside doing his job. He'd eventually come up with a good system for his night watch duties. Every forty-five minutes he would make a fifteen minute circuit of the building and the baths, checking windows and doors along the way. Then he would go back to his spot behind the main desk and return to whatever book he happened to be reading at the time. 

The disguised blond chuckled mentally as he thought about how closely he resembled his old friend and teacher Kakashi in mannerisms, at least where duty and past times were concerned. He almost never left the house without a book in his back pocket or utility pouch. Tonight the samurai and feudal lords of this Japan place were his mental escape. He flipped his book over and glanced at the cover art and title for the hundredth time.

'Gotta admit this James Clavell guy sure knows how to write a story,' he mused as he glanced at the clock. It was that time again, time to make his rounds. He rose from his seat and stashed the worn book into his utility pouch and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

He reappeared on the roof of the inn and took a deep breath of the clean night air. It was a beautiful night. Hardly a cloud in the sky to cover up the huge full moon that hung like a lamp amid the star studded night scape. These kinds of nights had been Hinata's favorite back in Konoha. The two of them would often go out to their favorite tree together and spend the night on their branch, cuddled together enjoying the moonlit night.

Naruto sniffed and smiled at the memories of countless nights spent like that. He tilted his face skyward and closed his eyes, reveling in the night and the memories it brought.

A subtle swirl of warmth passed over his cheek, caressing it much as Hinata's hands had caressed his cheek so many years ago. He groaned and tried to lean into the feeling, suddenly desperate for her touch once again, but just as it had come the feeling left, leaving him clawing at the memory.

He opened his eyes and glanced towards the source of the warm touch. His eyes came to rest on one of the many chimneys that poked out of the roof. Wispy swirls of heat and smoke were rising out of it. As he watched, another puff of smoke rolled towards him and blew past his face, eliciting the same feeling of warmth that he'd felt a moment earlier. Naruto sighed as his little puff of hope vanished. Then he chuckled.

"Hinata-chan, you pick the strangest ways to remind me that you're still there," he said to the night. With a shake of his head he vanished again and began his routine checks.

Maybe it was because he had been so lost in memories, or perhaps his skills had just slipped. Either way he failed to notice the three sets of eyes that had been locked on him ever since he'd arrived on the roof.

>>>>

Three darkened silhouettes crouched behind one of the boulders atop the hill behind the inn. They watched as a lone figure alighted atop the inn roof and stood there for several moments before vanishing again. The three sets of eyes looked at each other then back at the place where the man had stood.

"The scouting report mentioned nothing about any guards of ninja strength," one of the shadows said. "I think this has just turned into a high B rank mission. The sort of power I got off that guy puts him at least at Jounin strength. Are we sure the target didn't have any sort of escort?"

A second voice spoke. "Positive. His escort left him two towns ago. He traveled alone from there."

A third voice merely grunted.

"We'll have to eliminate whoever that was before we make our move for the target. He could pose a problem if we don't."

"Agreed."

"Hai."

"Alright, Hyou will confront him while I slip around and capture him from behind. Tomegi will act as support. Go!"

The three shadows vanished, melting away into the night leaving the boulder to the moonlight.

>>>>

Naruto was almost through with his rounds and was heading back to the warmth of the inn when he felt a tingling up his spine. He didn't react immediately though as he'd used to. Instead he kept walking.

It had taken him till he was nearly twenty to finally get in touch with his body's natural awareness to threats. Before then he'd relied on training and normal sensory clues to alert him to enemies. Now he relied on it as a sixth sense. He'd survived many harrowing missions through its use and it had never, ever, been wrong. So when the tingling didn't stop and then abruptly transferred itself to the hair on his neck he knew someone was stalking him.

Ever so casually he popped the button on his kunai holster, seeing if that got a reaction from his would be stalker. Whoever it was wasn't doing a good job of masking their presence and obviously wasn't great at spotting subtle movements either. They failed to notice.

A glinting reflection, caught off of a darkened window at what would normally be an impossible distance for anyone but a ninja, confirmed that the person behind him was a ninja of some rank, indicated by the darkened flack jacket the person wore.

Naruto, or Makkuro depending on the company, had begun wearing normal cloths over his modified ANBU uniform and armor close to a year ago. He'd noticed that guests felt decidedly uneasy when he'd been seen stalking the halls early on in his employment. So he'd begun hiding or removing the more obvious visual signs like the mask and the armor. The weapon pouches and sandals were the only concessions he made.

At the moment he was wearing a rumpled shirt covered by a thin windbreaker jacket and a pair of loose pants. They were all easily removable or ripable in case he needed to ditch them for the uniform underneath.

He was approaching the main door when his assailant struck. A barrage of kunai and shuriken hit from all over his rear arch. It was a well preformed attack but easily dodged by someone of his power. A simple kawarimi switch with a potted plant that sat near the entrance was all that Naruto needed to get out of the way.

Unfortunately his enemy seemed to have been prepared for that. Three kunai bounced off of three already in flight and sent them off on widely divergent paths. One of them managed to put a hole through his jacket sleeve.

Naruto grunted mentally, reassessing his opponent's skill level. He hadn't seen someone manage something like that since Tenten passed the Jounin exam. He still didn't want to have to kill this person if he had a choice but it was looking slightly more unlike he'd get away with ending this quickly and quietly.

Several quick movements had him out of his disguise, revealing his uniform underneath. Then he went to work. Creating five shadow clones he had all but one go invisible and hide in advantageous spots to help better assess his opponent and pounce on them if needed. He too went invisible and slipped back, leaving his lone shadow clone to distract his enemy.

A shadow materialized out from behind a shrub and knelt on the ground just outside the light cast by the front door's lights. Naruto's eyes sharpened as he analyzed the figure.

Whoever it was looked to be about eighteen years old. They were short, only reaching about five foot five standing totally erect. The person's hair was drawn back in a short ponytail making it difficult to figure out the their gender.

His eyes flashed to the seals being rapidly preformed. It was a decently long sequence which meant it had to be either complex or powerful. Something at the back of his mind awoke as he watched the sequence. Something that told him he knew the combination. But he didn't understand its significance until the last seal was performed and the words were mumbled.

"Kyuutai-sana no Jutsu" (Sphere of Reality Technique)

A pulse of nearly invisible chakra swept out in a perfect sphere. It covered the five meters between Naruto and his opponent in less time then it took to blink and continued on for another fifteen meters before vanishing. In its wake all his clones disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving Naruto alone, hanging upside down two meters off the ground on the side of the inn wall, now completely visible.

'Crap, never thought I'd see that technique again,' Naruto thought. 'Wait, that must mean this one is Leaf!'

Naruto's eyes shot to his opponent's forehead. His suspicions were confirmed when the younger ninja tilted their head upward, sweeping bangs aside to reveal the swirl of the Leaf shining in the night. But it wasn't his village's sigal that caused his heart to nearly stop its rapid rhythm. The parting dark bangs also revealed a pair of blood red eyes, eyes that contained the deadly pinwheel that Naruto had become all to familiar with in the days of his youth.

The eyes of the Leaf's signature genius clan smiled coldly up at him, locking him in place with their cold precision. The wheels slowly turning in place, icy and calculating. Two words slipped from his mouth, words he thought he had left behind in Konoha.

"Sharingan . . . Uchiha . . ."

* * *

I know you hate me for cutting this one off where I did but I think the occasional cliffhanger is good for readers...keeps em coming back.

Notes: Many of You asked about the book Naruto was reading and whether it ties in with the cross over. No it doesn't really. I let slip the author in this chapter. His name, if you didn't catch it, is James Clavell, author of the best selling novel "Shogun". Possibly one of the best novels on japan ever written. I highly recommend it. And since I named an author that is still alive I highly doubt this will have anything to do with the Kenshin crowd.

Notes on Names:

**Hyou** - panther

**Tomegi** - fragrant wood


	12. Ghosts to Reality

Dang people, guess its not a good idea to use cliff hangers with this crowd. Well here's what you want, another chapter. But I know you'll still wanna kill me when its done. (Grin)

* * *

The young Uchiha smiled grimly and spoke in almost perfect imitation of the long dead Sasuke. "You know of my clan and its bloodlimit." It was a simple statement, with only the slightest hint of pride edging in on the boy's cold Sasuke like voice. 

Naruto's mind was in overdrive. He had never been great with names but he'd made it a solemn mission to learn all his friends children and grandchildren by name. But he hadn't expected to need those names again for some time so they had been shuffled off into some dusty corner of his mind. Now he was frantically digging for them again, sooner then he'd ever thought he would. 'I remember bouncing this brat on my knee so why can't I remember his friggin name?' Naruto growled mentally. To stall for time he dropped to the ground and stuffed his hands in his pockets and feigned disinterest.

"Course. I know all about you and your clan. But what's there to say? You can be beaten as can every other bloodline."

The younger man's mask slipped a tad and Naruto knew he'd gotten in under the boy's skin. If one thing was true about bloodlines they usually thought they were the kami's gift to earth. Most were too proud to acknowledge their weak points which made anyone with a strong enough counter argumentor attitude a liable threat to those who couldn't counter their bloodline's weaknesses and knew it.

Since a fully formed Sharingan could see through and help counteract any genjutsu or ninjutsu it cut those approaches off. But taijutsu was another question. A normal taijutsu attack wasn't fast enough to get through the Sharingan's foresight ability as they were too slow. What was needed was speed. If an opponent could get moving fast enough that even the foresight wasn't up to the task then the Sharingan could be beaten. The problem was that most Sharingan users knew their weakness and trained heavily in taijutsu to make sure they could stand a chance if someone tried to exploit their weakpoint.

Naruto teeth flashed in the light of the moon as he worked the chink in the boy's armor. "All you need to know is what the particular clan's limits are then adjust accordingly. Take the Hyuuga for example." Naruto heard a quiet gasp off to his left and pinpointed it instantly but didn't react visibly. 'Looks like there's a Hyuuga in the audience as well. I wonder who else is out there?'

"The Hyuuga are masters of taijutsu. No one in their right minds would get into close combat with one. And since most offensive ninjutsu can be cancelled out by their defenses that leaves only genjutsu."

Naruto felt an unnatural tug on his body then suddenly felt it freeze up. 'Oh man, the whole gang is here. Can't move anything and that means shadow bind. Hmm, this could get ugly real quick.'

"Then there are those who favor ninjutsu," Naruto continued as if being frozen in place was an everyday occurrence. "But only the specialists usually pose a serious problem when it comes to ninjutsu, like the Nara clan. Nicely done by the way. I didn't sense it until it hit me which means you're excellent at masking your presence. You might want to give your teammates a few pointers before your next mission. Pretty boy here could use some better training for tailing people and your Hyuuga friend over there behind the sign should get some practice keeping quiet."

A long uneasy silence dropped when Naruto finished speaking. He was glad for it too. He'd already figured out who the Uchiha was and he was pretty sure who the Nara was as well but the Hyuuga was posing a bit of a problem. With such a large clan he couldn't be sure since he'd only ever known maybe half the Hyuuga that were in the ranks of Konoha's ninja forces. 'Come on, do me a favor and step out where I can see yo...ah there.'

The Hyuuga nin took a step out from behind the sign and eyed him with something approaching utter amazement pasted on her face. But something looked decidedly off. 'Doesn't look like she got the full benefit of the bloodline what with those eyes. I wonder.' And indeed the girl's eyes weren't exactly the pale white they should have been. Green crept in around the edges of the white which, considering she WAS a Hyuuga, looked very VERY strange.

'Looks like the hunch paid off. She has to be Makoto and Hanabi's grandchild. What are the odds these three would show up together here?' He glanced at the Uchiha boy again and saw that his jaw was set in the exact same way Sasuke's had when he was angry at being one upped. 'Not good at all apparently.'

Naruto's body jerked forward a few steps, revealing a young female figure doing the same off to his right, confirming for him that it was indeed the shadow bind he was caught in.

"How do you know so much about Konoha clans?" She asked cautiously. "Anyone with that kind of information wouldn't be out here in the middle of no where without a hidden clan's mark anywhere on their body."

Naruto grinned but couldn't look directly at her since she was at a ninety degree from him. "A good nin never reveals his secrets to his enemies, and especially not to little chibis like you three."

He could see all three of them stiffen at his comment.

"Forget it, just finish him off quickly so we can get on with our mission," the Nara girl said quickly, obviously showing that she was in charge of this mission. The Uchiha reached for his kunai and brought it out in a backwards grip meant to slice open an opponents neck from behind.

Naruto's smile vanished instantly.

"So you're serious again," he said evenly. "Well then, I guess I should get serious too."

Naruto's right hand came up out of his pocket and moved into a half ram seal as if the shadow bind wasn't even there. He turned his head and looked at the girl performing the technique and shrugged at her as her eyes widened in utter terror.

"KILL HIM!" She screamed. The Uchiha lurched forward, suddenly unsure about his attack choice now that his opponent was moving, but still going ahead with it anyway.

Naruto's head snapped back around and his eyes locked with the eyes of the rapidly approaching Uchiha moments before Naruto's lips formed the release.

"KAI!"

Then he was gone.

>>>>

In that split second after his opponent vanished, time froze for the lone Uchiha. He knew he was stumbling now but all his attention was on the figure that had appeared behind his Hyuuga partner. A mumbled "Goodnight Tomegi" reached his ears as a finger hit a hard to find pressure point on her neck, dropping her like a ton of bricks. Then another whisper, this time from behind his other teammate caught his attention. "You too Kumori. Night night."

Then he was falling over his own feet.

Rolling with it he managed to get upright again and get into a defensive stance with his back to the inn's entryway. What greeted his eyes when he looked up was something he'd only imagined in his worst nightmare.

His opponent was advancing on him from the left. Behind him lay the prone figure of Hyuuga Tomegi. Another opponent, he couldn't tell if it was a clone or the real one, was gently placing Nara Kumori against the inn wall. Both of his teammates were down and it didn't even look like his opponent had broken a sweat!

"Guess bloodlines aren't everything huh kid?" the left one said as he stopped a suitable distance away and grinned cheekily at him.

"Don't let yourself get on a high horse just cause you've got a blood line chibi," said the one on the right as he straitened up.

"Cause you might just get knocked down someday," said a third voice right in his ear. Before he could even tense he felt a pressure on his neck and suddenly everything went black.

"Goodnight, Uchiha Hyou. Sweet dreams."

>>>>

Tamaishi burst out of the inn's front door just as Naruto caught his last opponent from falling. The former stone nin had most of his uniform on but was still in the process of pulling his flack jacket on. He froze at the sight of the three stunned Leaf ninja and shot a glance at the closest of the three Makkuros as if questioning the sight in front of him.

"I felt the chakra surges and got here as fast as I could." He looked again at the three Leaf nin. "Guess I wasn't needed."

All three Makkuro's grinned but it was the closest one that answered. "Actually you're just in time."

An eyebrow rose in confusion as he finished pulling on his jacket. "For what? The fighting's over."

The other two Makkuro's popped and dispersed as smoke. "You can help me get them to my place."

"You sure know how to make an old guy feel useful," Tamaishi grunted.

Makkuro only smirked.

* * *

Rawr, another one done. Most of you thought Naruto'd wipe the floor with these guys. Well, you were right. What he did will all be explained later. So hang tight. 

On another note i'm gonna ease some more tension by saying that no, this will not be a YYH cross over. I have no intention to subject you to an attempt at YYH so breath easy.

And for anyone who missed it and cares, I did update L.I.R, one of my other stories. Not a very long one but still, its the thought that counts right?

**Kumori** - Cloud shadow


	13. Dining with the Enemy?

Ok gang, i've been meaning to say this for the last two chapters but each time I post it I forget and have to rush out another chapter. This will be the last chapter for a while. I'm leaving for England on May 3rd and won't be back till May 25 so don't expect a chapter for another month or so. I have other duties to attend to before and after the trip that will keep me away from the keyboard.

* * *

Hyuuga Tomegi woke with a jump that nearly threw her off the bed she'd been placed on. The last thing she remembered was a voice from behind her saying goodnight then the feeling of a finger pressed into her neck. She reached a hand around to touch the point on her neck and found nothing unusual. Then she surveyed her surroundings. 

She was sitting on a bed in what appeared to be an underground room judging by the fact that it had no windows. It was a simple room with only a bed, dresser, and chair. Several piles of books stood around the bed.

The bed itself was rather large and Tomegi was suddenly very happy it was. Both of her teammates were stretched out on it beside her. Hyou was uncomfortably close which made the Hyuuga blush and scoot away. She'd always liked the moody boy but had never told him or anyone else about the secret crush.

She quickly checked both of them and found that they were in a state deeper than normal sleep. Something most likely jutsu induced. Tomegi knew that if they'd just been hit like she had they would have been up by now.

A snore reached the young girl's ears and her head whipped around to find someone occupying the chair. 'Strange,' she thought, 'I didn't notice someone there when I looked the first time.'

The chair was pushed up against the door with its occupant sound asleep, obviously guarding them and preventing them from escaping. She eyed the older man who was slouched there. It was the same one her team had faced earlier. He looked to be in his mid twenties, which put him a few years ahead of the oldest in her group. The man had dark spiky hair that seemed to jut out everywhere and his face was nothing special. The cloths he wore, however, were what drew her attention. His choice of clothing seemed oddly familiar. They almost looked like an ANBU uniform.

Her eyes twitched in shock as she realized it didn't just look like an ANBU uniform, it was one. And a Leaf uniform at that. And if this was Leaf then he had to be missing nin!

A hand flashed down to her leg and found that her weapon pouch was gone. Her other hand confirmed that her waist pack was gone as well. Her scrolls from inside her scroll slots on her flack jacket were missing too. With her eyes never leaving her guard she snuck a hand into her left sleeve and touched the cold steel of her backup kunai. She smiled grimly as she pulled out the small weapon which the enemy had failed to find. Palming it she stood and moved as silently as she could toward the door.

She didn't like the idea of killing in cold blood, she never had, but this once she'd make an exception. With an expert twist of her wrist the kunai sliced across the man's throat just as her hand came down on his mouth to keep him silent. She felt the body twitch several times and then slump. She removed her hand from his mouth and stepped back. It was then that she realized several things were out of place. For one there was no blood. Not on her kunai, not on his neck, not even any around his mouth. Then there was the fact that the body was beginning to move again.

Tomegi's eyes widened in shock as the man that she'd killed stood up, stretched languidly, then opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Not a very nice way to wake me up Hyuuga-san," he said as his neck wound vanished as if he'd never been touched. "But at least you're up now. Thought you'd never wake up."

The Hyuuga ninja sputtered a bit. Her kunai suddenly feeling totally inadequate against an opponent that could do such things. "I...you...how did?"

The black haired guard quirked an eyebrow and smiled lopsidedly before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Tomegi dropped her kunai all together and covered her mouth as the strangeness of the encounter became too much for her. She felt sick and slowly lowered herself down to the ground. Thoughts of imprisonment and torture began to fill her mind and the churning in her stomach grew.

Suddenly foot steps sounded beyond the door. The feelings redoubled as she realized in one horrible moment that she'd be tortured and killed first. But she wouldn't go down without a fight. Snatching up the kunai yet again she forced down her fear and rampant stomach acids and prepared to defend herself and her friends to the best of her abilities.

A mumbled word or two at the door that sounded like a jutsu cancellation preceded the opening of the door. The same man she'd faced not a minute before stepped into the room and looked down at her with appraising eyes.

She glared up at him from her spot on the floor and tensed for an attack. A small portion of her mind registered the fact that he was no longer dressed in ANBU uniform but in comfortable civilian clothing. And while that was odd, she'd never heard of heinous felons dressed in slacks and a button up white shirt, it didn't really matter if the man was going to kill her.

"Hmm, guess I missed a weapon," the man mumbled as he caught sight of the small kunai she held. "Well then I guess it's a good thing I left a Kage Bunshin in here instead of staying myself huh?"

Tomegi blinked. "That...that was a kage bunshin?"

He nodded.

The young Hyuuga relaxed a bit as some of the tension she'd built up from the strange encounter dispersed. Then she remembered her predicament and tensed back up.

"Who, who are you? There weren't any guards reported in our briefing."

Makkuro/Naruto scratched the back of his neck while his eyes continued to follow her kunai's every movement. "Well, uh, that's because I work for the inn itself. I'm not protecting any one person but all guests here are in my care. Its my duty to make sure they stay safe." He sighed and leaned against the door jam. "I knew something like this would happen sooner or later."

Tomegi eyed the man shrewdly. He didn't seem like such a bad guy now. He had just been doing his job and wasn't even related to their target if what he said was the truth. Still, she wasn't going to go on his word alone. No ninja was stupid enough to do that. At least no ninja worth this headband that is.

"What have you done to my friends? Why aren't they awake as well?" She asked in as frosty a tone as she could muster.

Makkuro glanced away from the knife for a moment and looked at the two other occupants of the room before returning to watch the blade. "I figured I'd like to talk to you first. They're fine. Just a simple sleep jutsu." He gestured out the door. "Would you like to join me in the living room for a talk and some food. Its been over twelve hours since I knocked you out so I'm guessing you're pretty hungry."

Tomegi shook her head and waved the kunai in front of her in a mute gesture of warning. Unfortunately her captor didn't seem phased by it. Instead he smiled. Not a nasty smile but one full of warmth and amusement.

"That's commendable Tomegi-chan but you really don't need to be scared. Besides, I know you're hungry." Her stomach chose that moment to voice its agreement with him. She blushed a bit and lowered the kunai a fraction.

"You can keep your weapon with you if you want but I'd prefer you not try to kill me till we're done with food. I'm hungry too and I don't like to spoil a meal by trying to fend off opponents."

The young Hyuuga stood reluctantly but did not advance. After a few moments of silence her captor smiled again and turned to walk back down the short hallway. "Just follow me when you're ready." He disappeared around a corner. Moments later she heard what sounded like kitchen sounds coming from where he'd gone.

She didn't quite know what to think of the situation now. Barely a minute ago she'd thought she was going to die a horrible death but now she was being treated to breakfast and a chat. The man who was responsible for her team's current position was merely an inn guard who'd been doing his duty. Of course there was the major problem of him knowing her name and their clan's respective histories and abilities, along with his apparent connection to Konoha somehow. That, she decided, was the more important issue now, if what he was offering was indeed sincerely just a meal and a talk.

So, with her kunai still leading the way, Tomegi stepped out of the room and made her way down the short hall to what appeared to be the front room. She stopped at the entrance to the small kitchen and found her captor busy cooking up some stir-fry and making a salad. He grinned at her and handed her the salad bowl for her inspection. "I figure you'd like to inspect the food before you eat it," he said in a matter of fact tone. "As I recall your parents had a fondness for Cesar salad. I don't like the stuff but I had most of the ingredients so I figured I'd dish one out for you. A piece of home away from home neh?"

Tomegi stopped her inspection of the dish to stare at him in awe. How did this man know so much about her and her family? She eyed him up and down and concluded that she'd never seen him before today which made this even more of a mystery.

The man, noticing her eyes on him, simply turned a cheeky grin in her direction. "I'll explain how I know so much about you when I'm done in here. Go on into the living room and have a sit down where ever you want. Just watch out for the books."

The living room turned out to be covered in books. More books then she'd seen anywhere outside of a library or her parent's house. Luckily the couch seemed to be off limits to books because it was totally clear. Tomegi seated herself in a way that afforded easy escape towards the door or windows. Then she settled down to wait for her captor come host.

>>>>

Naruto grinned as Tomegi settled herself uncomfortably on the couch. He shook his head at her nervousness and turned back to his stir fry.

Once he'd gotten the kids back home and the adrenaline had worn off he had actually found himself quite happy about the encounter. It had been slightly more than two years since he'd left Konoha and he hadn't seen a single face from the town in that time. That was the thing he had hated most. Every single face, every person in that village, had made him smile. Every one of them had been his adopted family when he'd been hokage. He had gotten to know as many as possible and had spent every waking moment he wasn't in his office either spending time with his wife or out on the streets with his people.

It had been the best part about being Hokage he'd found. The power and prestige had been nothing compared to the acceptance he'd gotten and earned while in office.

His eyes wandered to the back of the girl's head, noting her long purple hair tied back much as Makoto's had been when he'd been a chuunin. Naruto had played with this young girl not so long ago, as he had played and taught the other two and the dozens of other children of Konoha. He had passed along his knowledge of the shinobi world to them as academy students and as genin.

And now they were grown up. Chuunin of Konoha. Almost unrecognizable as the chibis he'd once known.

Naruto sighed and dished out the food on to two plates and turned off the stove. Snagging two pairs of chopsticks as he left the kitchen he made his way around his piles of books and plopped down in the chair across the cluttered coffee table from his guest. He placed a plate and one set of chopsticks on the table for her then leaned back and waited for her to take them.

>>>>

Tomegi tensed a bit as her host came into the room with two plates of steaming food and sat down in the chair opposite her. She took another good look at him as he did. This was the first time she'd seen him in real light, the kitchen and bedroom only being lit by electric lights and weak ones at that. Now, with the afternoon sun streaming though the window, she got her first decent look at him.

Her initial estimate of his age looked about right. He was tall and well built, his form easily showing through his thin button up shirt. His hair was a deep black, almost the color of pitch as it seemed to have almost no shine to it. His skin showed a deep tan that seemed almost bronze. But it was his eyes that really caught her attention. The deep pools of rich sky blue that stared out at her from the handsome face snagged her attention, drawing her into their beautiful depths so naturally.

A memory began to nag at her, saying she'd seen eyes like these before, but she shoved the memory off. She set her salad aside, which was still untouched, and took the plate he'd set out for her. Eyeing it critically she glanced back up, putting forth the unasked question they both knew she was going to ask. The man smiled ruefully and started to dig into his food. He then paused and put out his hand to her. She wordlessly hand him her plate and he took several bites off of hers before handing it back.

"Happy?" he asked around a mouthful of food.

Her mouth quirked into something almost like a shy smile but she quickly suppressed it and nodded. She took several careful bites of both dishes to make sure he hadn't cheated somehow before launching fully into the food. She kept her kunai in her lap for easy access.

They ate in silence, each stealing glances at each other. Naruto didn't bother to hide the fact that he was looking at her but she tried to hide her glances at him. Probably because she found herself on the verge of blushing on more then one occasion when she looked up to find his eyes on her. Granted he was handsome but her blush wasn't as much about that as it was one of the other feelings she was getting, one she usually associated with an elder of the clan staring at her or some other high ranking official of Konoha. He seemed to look at her differently then an enemy would have, as if happily remembering. It was almost as if he was seeing someone else through her.

She shook off the thought as she finished her salad and began picking at the remaining bits of stir fry left on her plate. Naruto had already finished and was wiping his chopsticks clean for future use.

"Well now that you're fed I suppose we should get to talking," he said as he began to play with his newly cleaned utensils, twirling them around his fingers like he would a pair of senbon needles.

Tomegi set aside her plate and began to toy with her kunai again. "Would you like to start or should I?" She asked hesitantly.

"Why don't you. I'm sure you've got lots of questions."

"Ok," she said, shifting forward a bit. "How did you know our names and all that information about our clans?"

Her host chuckled as he sat back. "Well the clan stuff is just good observation that anyone could have picked up after fighting with a member of any clan. But I guess I do have a bit of insider information that most wouldn't know. Like your names for example. I've known you since you were born," he said as he gestured to her with his chopsticks. "Just like I was there for when your father was born. Hyuuga Yotsuba Habu, born to Yotsuba Makoto and Hyuuga Hanabi during the second year of the Rokudaime's rule."

Tomegi's eyes widened when he said he'd known her since birth. His second statement got quite a bit more then just the eyes. Her jaw hung loose and she positively radiated surprise. Naruto however took her look of shock to mean he hadn't told her enough.

"What, not enough? Well your name is Hyuuga Tomegi, the only child of Hyuuga Habu and Hyuuga Riku, who was another half-blood Hyuuga like your father. Your mother died however when you were seven, which seems to be a fairly common trait with Hyuuga mothers for some reason, after which you lived with your father and his younger brother Teshin. Am I right?"

Tomegi nodded automatically, her mind still in shock. "You. You're from Konoha. You must be to know so much." Her mind kick started again somewhat and she snapped her jaw back into place with a click. "Who are you?"

"Let me ask you a question first," Naruto said. "Can your eyes see chakra pathways?"

The Hyuuga bristled slightly. Her eyes had always been a sore spot for her because of her mixed heritage. "Yes I can. I have a limited version of the three sixty sight ability and no access to the telescopic sight ability but I can see chakra lines just fine."

"Good, I'm glad you have at least that much. If you would please take a look at my chakra pathways and tell me what you see."

Tomegi shuffled uncomfortably but did as she was asked. The veins around her eyes flared and the eyes themselves lost some of the green tint. "I see normal chakra path ways," she said quickly.

"Is there anything strange about the pathways around my navel?"

The girl didn't answer for a second as she shifted her gaze downwards but when she did a hint of surprise broke through into her speech. "They're in a spiral."

Naruto nodded. "I asked you to look so I could help prove who I am. Otherwise you might not have believed me."

"Why's that?" Tomegi asked as her eyes reverted back to normal.

The blond gone black took a deep breath and let it slip out in a sigh. "Because as far as everyone in Konoha knows, I'm dead." His eyes locked with hers and stayed there.

Tomegi felt the itch in the back of her mind again as those sky blue orbs locked onto her again. Something about them brought back memories. She leaned forward without realizing it. "Your eyes. I know them from somewhere," she whispered.

Naruto nodded. "The one thing I could never change about my appearance with my jutsu was my eyes. And it just never felt right to use henge for something so small."

"Wait...what jutsu are you talking about?"

"This isn't my natural form Tomegi-chan." Naruto flipped his mental switch and reverted himself to his ever youthful natural form. His hair color went from pitch black to striking golden blond. His face and body shifted a bit and his tan lightened ever so slightly. He seemed to shed five years in a second. "This is."

For the second time in as many minutes the Hyuuga's eyes went wide in amazement and her jaw muscles went slack. 'He looked just like...'

Her thoughts were cut off as he spoke again. "But you remember me looking like this."

The change was slower this time. She saw his skin darken again. His hair lost some of its shine and began to go gray. Wrinkles appeared and his body filled out to look more like that of a middle aged man. Then he passed middle age, his hair now going totally silver gray and his wrinkles deepening. His back arched and he appeared to shrink in stature.

It all happened in the span of about ten seconds but the result looked like it had added sixty years to him.

And now came the full recognition. Tomegi's eyes watered as she saw her first teacher reappear before her eyes. Someone she'd thought gone years ago. Her mouth worked for a few moments but she couldn't get any words out due to her shock and happiness.

Failing to answer verbally, she chose instead to answer physically. Meaning she took a flying leap over the coffee table and tackled him. He caught her and managed to keep them both in the chair without knocking it over.

Suddenly she found her ability to speak again and promptly let loose a happy war cry.

"NARUTO-OJISAMA!"

>>>>

Once he'd managed to calm her down and stop the raging rivers of tears she'd spouted he'd answered all her questions and explained the confusing mess that was his life up until the previous night. She took it surprisingly well, as he had hoped.

When he finished she immediately jumped up, suddenly revealing the young child Naruto had known, and pleaded for him to wake the others and explain it all to them. Naruto only shook his head and pulled her back down to the couch.

"No, I told you and you alone for a very specific reason. I told you because I know the Hyuuga can keep the secret for me. If I'd revealed myself to the others it would have been harder to contain. I don't want to have the village sending hunter nin out to find me and drag me back. My time in Konoha is over for the moment but I will return someday." He saw the look of disappointment blossom on her face but he pressed on. "It won't be in your life time T-chan but I will return. I belong to Konoha and Konoha only. You may tell your father and your grandparents if you wish but make sure it stays with them. Keep my secret alive until my return. Pass it on to your children."

The tears came back to the young Hyuuga's eyes as she nodded meekly. "When Hokage-sama? When will you come back?"

"I don't know T-chan. There are things I have to do. Jiriaya-sensei left clues that could lead me to find a way to get rid of the demon fox for good." He reached over and tapped the travel atlas lightly. "This might lead the way to the key to my prison."

Tomegi nodded again and leaned into her old sensei for comfort. "What will we do about the others? What about our mission? We were supposed to kill one of your guests."

"You'll have to get good at lying T-chan. I'll help you set up a camp several miles away. You can take it from there. I'll also pay you for the failed mission. As for your target...let them send out another team once he's left the inn."

Naruto patted the girls head and smiled broadly. "We've got a few hours before I need to get you guys out of here. So until then I want you to fill me in on all I've missed these last few years. Tell me about yourself and the others. How are your grandparents?"

The Hyuuga smiled fondly. "Well where do I start? You left just before my chuunin exam..." Her voice carried on, weaving tales of life back in the Leaf. Naruto relaxed and let her voice pull him back to the town he loved and the people he'd called family. And for several glorious hours he was back among them once again.

>>>>

Hyou and Kumori groaned and sat up almost simultaneously. Each one supporting their pounding heads.

"Ah, you're awake!" Tomegi said as she moved around the fire and knelt by her teammates' sides. "Thank the Kami you're awake again. I didn't know if I'd have to drag you back to Konoha on my back or not."

Kumori massaged her temples as she looked around. They were in a quite little clearing on the edge of the forest. Less than half a mile away the imposing bulk of one of the mountain's arms pushed its way into the woods. The sun had just set in the east leaving purple and pink hues arching through the sparse clouds. They had a roaring fire near which was pitched their small tents that they had left with their packs back up near the boulder.

"What happened?" Hyou asked.

Tomegi took a deep breath and launched into her story. "Well after that guy knocked us out he stuffed us in a back room and just left us there. I don't think he really knew what to do with us. Anyway, I woke up several hours later and managed to pull both of you out and get you back up to the boulder where we'd hid our stuff. I spent the rest of the day sneaking you and our stuff away. I just got finished setting up camp an hour ago."

Kumori held up a hand. "Wait wait...he just let us escape?"

Tomegi shook her head. "Oh no. He came out looking for us. There were a few times when he came close to finding us but I managed to use henge to disguise us as boulders. He seemed to be looking in the direction of the least time route to Konoha. It was a good thing we came up from the southwest otherwise he would have found us."

"What about our target? You just left him?" Hyou put in as he managed to rise and make his way closer to the fire and the rabbit that was roasting over it.

"After what happened last night I deemed it too difficult to complete and gave up. Our lives were more important then a single target."

Kumori sighed and began to get up as well when she remembered something strange. Her eyes widened and she stood upright, ignoring the pain in her head. "Wait! He knew our names? How did he know them?"

This was the hard part Tomegi thought. She thanked the kami for the darkness that hid her bad attempt as containing her blush. "I had some time to think when I was moving you guys and I figured out that it was most likely part of a genjutsu technique. There was another guy who looked like a ninja who came out and looked for us with him. I'm guessing he had a partner just inside the door when we fought him who was doing it the entire time."

The Nara girl scratched her head in confusion. "Well I suppose that makes sense. Still it's kinda creepy." She sighed and sat down opposite Hyou who was now poking the rabbit with a kunai to test how done it was. "Well I guess we'll head back and report the failure of our mission. By now our target's been alerted and will have left. There's no point in continuing if he has guards as good as the guy we fought."

Her teammates nodded concurrence and they dropped into a comfortable silence.

No one spoke again till the rabbit had been eaten and they were preparing for bed. Kumori paused in her preparations and glanced back at the mountain. "Still...still I can't help feel that something's missing here. Like I missed a major plot twist in a play or something. Weird."

Tomegi looked back at the mountain as well. A small weight in her pocket drew her hand to it and she fingered the ring Naruto had given to her as proof to her family that he lived. His Hokage's signet ring that was unique to him alone. A smile graced her lips as she clamped her hand around it.

"Trust me, you didn't miss a thing."

* * *

Well you guys were complaining about the shortness of the chapters. Hope this makes up for the last few being short. 

Someone mentioned the fact that Naras are usually paired up with Yamanakas and whoever choji's family is. Just note that they are chuunin and as such teams are fluid and are not set rigidly once they leave their genin teams. Plus I wanted to have three of the children from my favorite families find Naruto. And i'm sorry to disappoint so many of you with how Naruto revealed himself. I know its not as fun but its all been planned before hand. Trust me.

Thats basically it for that little arch of the storyline. Naruto will be leaving in the next chapter and i'll introduce the first character from one of the two crossovers i'm planning.

And my condolences go out to Dotdotdotman for the confession he put out in his review. If my story's good enough to sell your family for then I must be doing something right. Literary crack man! I love it!

**Oji** - uncle


	14. Naruto's World Tour Begins!

I HAVE RETURNED! And I come bearing sunburns and a new chapter for all! Well actually the sunburn wore off already but the new chapter is here for your consumption. I took my dad's laptop down with me and devoted some time to writing you guys a nice long chapter. And my thanks to all of you for the well wishes you gave for my trip, that was very kind. Also much thanks to all those who thought my lovey dovey chapter in L.I.R. was well written. True that is the first time i've published a chapter like that but I have written the like before. I just never thought they were any good. Gah...just enjoy the chapter already!

* * *

Naruto watched from the branches of a forest giant several hundred yards from the small encampment. It was a simple thing to boost his eyesight with a bit chakra so he could watch Tomegi bluff her way through her explanation. His pride in his young grand niece knew no bounds as she successfully got them to believe her story.

He watched them long into the night, hours after they'd set the watch and gone to sleep. Around three a.m. he rose silently from his spot high atop the tree and, with a last loving look at the camp, turned and headed back to the inn.

>>>> 

Tamaishi knocked on Naruto's door a few hours later and was greeted by a kunai at his throat when the door opened.

The old man gulped visibly and remained stock still. "This how you always treat your guests Makkuro?" He asked while moving as little as possible.

The dark figure just inside the doorway withdrew slightly and retracted the weapon from the older man's throat. A light flipped on to reveal a rather sad and tired Makkuro. His normal luster and bright smile were not in evidence this morning as he motioned for Tamaishi to step inside.

"Sorry bout that Tama," he said as he turned back towards the kitchen. "Wasn't expecting any visitors I got would be nice at this time of morning."

In the brief second before Makkuro disappeared around the corner into the kitchen Tamaishi caught a hint of color disappearing in the normal darkness of his friend's hair. The man blinked quickly and shook his head. 'Was that blond hair I just saw?'

"Expecting ANBU or something after that little incident the other night?" He asked quickly. "What'd you do with those kids you caught anyway? They still here?"

Makkuro reappeared with several cans of dried fruits in his arms. He didn't bother looking at the older man as he moved past and sat down to pack them into a large travel bag sitting on the couch. "Not really but it never hurts to be ready. The kids are gone."

Tamaishi looked surprised. "What? Did they escape? Or did you kill em? I don't wanna have to pull dead bodies out of hot springs Makkuro."

"I would never kill those three," Makkuro said with a hint of a smile pulling at the side of his mouth. "I'd never be able to live with myself if I did."

The surprise on the old man's face didn't slacken a bit. Instead it intensified. "You knew them? I saw that they were Leaf but I didn't think you knew them. I just thought you were being nice to em cause they were from your old village."

Makkuro's eyes flashed to the windows then back to Tamaishi. The warning they held was unmistakable. _'Keep your voice down'_ Tamaishi had the decency to look ashamed.

"Yes I knew them. I practically helped raise one of them," he said quietly.

Tamaishi blinked but chose not to say anything, instead taking the time to try an guess which it had been. Makkuro, mean while, continued to pack the bag on the sofa full of cloths and other personal items from around the house.

After several minutes of silence Tamaishi spoke again. "So is that why you're packin? Family nearly finds you so you start running again? Gotta say that's not exactly the best way to avoid your problems but it is a way."

Makkuro nodded as he hefted the nearly full bag onto his back and began tightening straps to make sure it's weight was distributed evenly over his shoulders, back, and hips. "I can't risk word leaking to whoever's in charge back home. I don't want hunter nin raiding the place and causing trouble," he said. A quick hand seal and four clones popped into existence around him.

Tamaishi took a step backward in shock at their sudden appearance. He'd seen Makkuro use this trick before but had never gotten a good up close look at the technique since the younger man tended to disperse the copies as soon as Tamaishi got sight of them. This time however it seemed his young friend didn't care about secrecy. Or about what they looked like.

"...Blond?"

Makkuro ignored the comment and addressed his clones. "Make one last sweep of the house and pick up anything I missed. You know what to look for." The clones nodded and, with little glances at Tamaishi, went about their job.

"Why are they...blond? Younger too?"

Tamaishi saw the slight grimace on his friends face as he looked away. "I've never been totally honest with you Tamaishi. But what else do you expect from a ninja?" The older man huffed a bit which made Makkuro smile.

"I saw the blond hair as you turned away," the rock ninja said, pointing to the other ninja's currently black hair. "If that was henge then it's damn good, especially if you've kept it up now for almost two years."

Makkuro's smile broke out from behind the tiredness at his friends comment. "Nah, its better then henge. A masterpiece really. Ever hear of Tsunade of the Legendary Three? The Godaime Hokage." A nod. "She and I developed it together."

Tough meaty jowls dropped in astonishment which, combined with the man's suddenly bugged out eyes, made such a great sight that Makkuro couldn't help but laugh heartily at his friend and boss. The man finally noticed he was being laughed at and shut his mouth with a click but continued to stare.

"She died years ago. I was nothin more than a student when she died. So how could you possibly..." His words died on his lips as Makkuro's eyebrow rose questioningly. Suddenly things began to click into place for the former rock nin. His friend's incredible talent and cunning, his confident attitude and constant smiles, and lastly his hidden blond hair which was mirrored by the four clones that chose that moment to return from their search of the house. The image they formed was a shady one at best but it was enough to make the connection for the older man. No one who lived in the elemental countries could ever forget that face.

The man, young man just didn't seem quite right anymore, standing before Tamaishi gathered the few small things the clones gave him and made them vanish into pockets of his pack. Then, with a wave of his hand, the clones disappeared in four puffs of smoke leaving the original standing in front of him.

"How could I possibly have been alive back then?" Makkuro finished for him, his face neutral. His eyes darkened with memory and age. "Look, Tamaishi... I'm sorry for deceiving you like I did. I would have preferred it another way but it was necessary. My face is still too recognizable, especially among ninja." He took a breath then continued. "You've been a great boss and a better friend then I could have hoped for which is why I'm doing what I'm doing. I don't want you or the inn put in danger because of my presence. If word leaked it could cause problems. There are dozens of groups who would still love to take me out because of the trouble I caused for them in the past."

Tamaishi nodded mechanically, still in awe of the man he'd unknowingly been in the presence of for close to two years. It still seemed like a dream to him. The man before him had been one of Stone villages number one bogeymen. The stories he'd heard about the famous Rokudaime of Konoha were so incredible he'd dismissed them as nothing but tall tales. But now, standing with him, he knew for certain that more then a few of those tall tales were more then likely true. Clones, he recalled, had been at the center of many of these tales. And after watching his friend use them to great effect on more than several occasions he was more prone to believe.

A pair of fingers snapped centimeters in front of Tamaishi's nose, effectively bringing him back from his musings. "Er, uh, sorry," he mumbled.

Naruto smiled and shook his head in mock disgust. "I tend to have that effect on people don't I? And here I never thought I'd have Sasuke's popularity problems."

The older man just stared.

"Hmm, wrong audience. Anyway. Before I leave there's one more thing I need to do." Naruto dug through his pants pocket and pulled out a small card. He looked at it quickly to make sure it was what he wanted then handed it to Tamaishi. He recognized it as a bank card of some sort.

"I've got too much money for my own good. Comes with living below your means for so long. That card will give you access to about fifty percent of it. I want you to invest it in the inn for me. I needed to diversify my investments anyway and I figured the inn was probably a good way to do that. You'll take care of that won't you?" Tamaishi nodded. "I'll put it in the hands of the owner. He'll know how to make best use of it."

"You make sure he does it well," Naruto said with a nod and a smile. He turned and surveyed the living room once more and found that he was satisfied with its appearance. He'd tried to get it back to the way he'd first seen it. With a contented smile he grabbed up the one thing that was out of place, the small travel atlas, and turned to the door.

Once they were both outside Naruto sealed the door with a jutsu and some blood to make sure it would only open willingly for him.

The two of them walked in silence back down to the inn. The sun's first rays were just beginning to enter the valley at that point. Warmth was seeping back into the air which caused a pleasant mist to rise and mingle with the already present vapors from the hot springs making it look like low hanging clouds had settled in the valley. The lights in the entryway to the inn cast a warm halo of light in the mist just outside. Together they stopped in this little patch of light and shook hands.

"Its been fun Tamaishi," Naruto said with a toothy smile. "Thanks for everything you've done for me."

Tamaishi smiled back, forgetting for a moment who the young man before him was, and took the proffered hand in one of his own and shook it gladly. "Can't say I've ever seen such a good worker as yourself, or a better ninja. Take care of yourself…Makkuro."

Naruto chuckled at the pause. "Remember me as Makkuro if you could. It'll make things easier if you're ever asked."

The old stone nin looked off into the mist for a moment then back to Naruto. "So where will you go now?"

The disguised blond returned to being serious. He held up the travel atlas. "I've decided to leave the elemental countries. I want to see more of the world and learn what can be learned outside of this land's borders." Inwardly however Naruto was shaking his head in mirth. 'Like I'd make the mistake of telling even you where I was going Tamaishi. I've already let you know too much about me. No, I'll be staying in the elemental countries for quite a while yet.'

"Well strait roads and clear skies to you Makkuro," Tamaishi said fondly. "Will you ever come by again?"

Naruto's eyes glinted strangely. He didn't answer directly, instead adjusting his pack again before turning toward the road. "Some day I might. Some day when I've rid myself of this curse of mine. Until then I won't look back. I can't. Otherwise I won't be able to move forward for all the pain I've seen." His eyes shifted up to the sky for a while as if remembering something. When he spoke again his voice echoed with the passion only found in voices bringing poetry to life. "'What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth, as I am now.'"

There was a stillness between the two for the barest of moments. Then, like he was shaking off a bad dream, Naruto shifted and put his foot outside of the halo of light and into the semi-gloom beyond. "Goodbye Tamaishi. Thanks again old man," Naruto called as he walked off.

Tamaishi guffawed loudly. "Old man? You've got a lot of things to learn yet you young sprout!" he shouted back.

The answering chuckle and the upraised hand was the last Tamaishi saw as his friend disappeared into the roiling mists.

>>>> 

A half hour after leaving the valley Naruto stepped off the road headed north and found a convenient bush. Shedding his disguise as well as his cloths, he transformed into someone completely new. His hair went all silver and his face roughened up until he resembled his thirty-five year old self only with silver hair and without his whisker marks. He donned a pair of brown lose fitting travel cargos, an orange and black t-shirt, and a rough gray and green military style button up jacket which he left open.

When he was done he hefted his bag once more and turned west into the woods. The going was smooth and beautiful. The morning sun pierced the woods in ever shifting columns of light that traveled the forest floor. Birds were out in full force as were all the other woodland creatures, creating a diverse melody of sound and sight into which Naruto trod, never looking back.

>>>> 

Over the next thirty odd years Naruto hoofed it across the elemental countries. From the high storm wracked peaks of Lightning Country to the rolling hills of the Grass. His time as Hokage gave him the mental maps of cities from every nation and enough knowledge on dress and custom for him to blend when he needed where he needed.

He skipped from town to town, taking up odd jobs or sometimes not working at all. Messenger boy, clerk, schoolteacher, guard, artist, and gardener were all filled by him at one point and at every age possible, from a healthy sixteen to a decrepit ninety.

Seldom staying anywhere for more then a year Naruto managed to build up an impressive list of visited towns and cities. And at each of those places, whether it be a small hamlet or a huge city, he tried to change his appearance at least slightly. Sometimes it was nothing more than a change of hair color and a fake scar. Other times it was a change across the age spectrum.

And in each place he made friends. Naruto just couldn't help it. His naturally upbeat attitude tended to attract people to him. And since his jobs tended to keep him in contact with people on a regular basis he invariably made a friendly acquaintance or two, usually upwards of a dozen or more. He tried on occasion not to make friends but that never worked out and he'd eventually quit trying to avoid friendships because of the stress it caused.

But making friends meant leaving friends, and there in lay Naruto's problem. His desire to be with people and make friends did not fit well with the life he'd been forced in to. He had already seen so many of his friends die or grow old while he stayed young that he had come to wish for death simply to stop the memories and so he could see Hinata and his friends again. Humans, he decided, were not meant to live as long as he had, or at least not by themselves. Yet his love for life and his love of Hinata kept him from taking his own. And so the cycle continued.

>>>> 

And then, thirty-seven years after leaving Konoha, Naruto abruptly got on a boat and left his land of birth and ventured out into the world beyond the elementals. The boat made its way north. Ten days later it put in at Singapore.

Now Naruto had seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing could prepare him for what he saw when he stepped off the boat. There were buildings taller then mountains, vehicles of every possible kind, and people by the millions. He was assaulted by smells and sights so varied that he spent almost half an hour just standing on the dock taking it all in. When he did move he did it cautiously, keeping one eye on where he was going, one eye on his pockets and pack, and all his other senses on the crowd.

After figuring out exactly where he was Naruto tried to acquire money. But after several attempts to convert what cash he had into local currency failed, partly because of language difficulties and partly because everyone who finally understood what he was trying to do laughed at the bills and coins he produced, Naruto went to plan B.

Seeking out the seediest part of town possible Naruto undertook to find an agent for the underworld. Having worked for and busted several underworld operations during his time as a chuunin and jounin Naruto knew what to look for and how to work his way into whatever he found. It took him all of ten minutes before he was threading his way down a dark alleyway following a man dressed in a stylish but dirty business suit.

The man lead him into the office of what appeared to be a warehouse then down several sets of stairs into a sub-basement where the pair were stopped by guards and checked for weapons. After surrendering his pack, which contained his hip pouch and weapons holster, and all but a brace of senbon needles which he chose to hide away just in case, he and the dealer were allowed into the crime lord's lair.

A stocky little man of about fifty sat in a chair behind a large desk. He wore a similar suit to the man who'd led Naruto in only his was white and in perfect condition. Naruto's guide whispered for several moments in the boss's ear before stepping back and motioning to Naruto.

Naruto, currently disguised as a twenty something kid with artificial looking red hair, something he'd seen a lot of since he'd gotten off the boat, and dressed in gray slacks and a button up black shirt, took a deep breath and reached down into his shirt and pulled out his second most prized possession. Tsunade's precious stone necklace swung gently from Naruto's fist, pulling the light of the room into itself and creating its own internal glow. Naruto watched as the man's eyebrows rose in interest. The man motioned him forward and leaned out over his desk to get a better look at it. After almost a minute of inspection the man sat back with a huff and looked at Naruto shrewdly. Naruto stared back passively and merely waited.

The man nodded after a few moments and spoke in a language Naruto wasn't familiar with. Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders and tried a language of his own to which the other man shrugged his shoulders. This went on for several minutes until Naruto swore in his native language. The crime boss's eyes lit up and he smiled. "You speak Japanese! You should have said so. It could have saved us much time."

Naruto smiled inwardly. 'So it's Japanese is it? Well that's certainly something. I was beginning to wonder how Jiriaya managed in Tokyo. Strange. I'll have to do some research into why we have the same language as the Japanese.'

"You can never tell who speaks what these days neh?" Naruto asked in a light tone. "So are you interested in the stone?"

The crime boss nodded and held out his hand. "If I may I'd like to look at it closer. Your neck is not exactly the best place to look at it from."

Naruto consented and pulled the stone off his neck and handed it to the other man. Pulling out a magnifying glass the boss began a careful inspection. He mumbled to himself several times about the stone's beauty and cut before holding it up to the light.

"You have a very high value stone here. I would be interested in learning where you got such a thing."

Naruto shrugged. "A gift from an old friend who's long dead. She never told me where she got it."

"Interesting. I do wonder. Things like these don't pop up often. A difficult price I'm sure. I can offer twenty million cash, American, up front. The rest I'll have to gather in from my associates. That will take a week, maybe more. What do you say to one hundred million total?"

Naruto had no idea what 'American' currency meant but it sounded like a good amount to him. He'd be taking the stone right back anyway. "That sounds appropriate enough. I'll take the twenty million now and leave the stone with you. Of course I'll have to have some collateral incase you decided to simply keep the stone without further payment." He looked around the room and his eyes came to rest on a simple strait edged sword displayed with some prominence on the left wall. Naruto would have shouted out in surprise at the sight of this particular sword but the current situation and his iron will managed to keep his surprise in check. "I'll take that until you fork over the rest of the cash," he said, pointing to the sword.

The crime lord thought for a second then grudgingly nodded. "Very well. But please do not misplace it. I am a collector of sorts and that is one of my finest pieces. I wouldn't want to have to harm you if it came back out of sorts, or not at all."

Naruto walked over and reached out a tentative hand for the sheathed sword. Unhooking it from the wall mount, Naruto hefted it and then turned and offered a formal bow to the man. "I will insure it's safe care. No harm will come to it while it is in my possession."

A well dressed associate stepped through another door and placed a briefcase on the desk. The crime boss touched the case gently. "Twenty million dollars. The rest will come within a week. A pleasure doing business."

Naruto bowed again then rose in one fluid motion and released his concealed senbon. One needle pierced the crime lord's left eye and entered his brain, another took care of the man who'd brought in the cash. Each died instantly. Two further senbon cut the cords to the video cameras that were monitoring the room. He calmly stepped over the fallen subordinate, retrieved the stone and the cash, and headed for the door.

The guards outside fell in similar fashion, as did the man who'd led Naruto in. After retrieving his belongings he dug out several explosive tags and placed them on critical support pillars on his way out. A multi-detonation explosion later Naruto was headed back towards the docks to look for a ship headed for Japan. The legendary sword of Kusanagi, formerly owned by none other then Orochimaru himself, tucked safely under his arm.

>>>> 

That evening found Naruto contemplating the sword on the forward deck of a container ship bound for Tokyo. He had ditched the red hair in favor of his natural blond but was otherwise in the same dress that he had infiltrated the underground with.

The polished blade lay naked, balanced perfectly on his knees, while he dwelt on the sword's history and evil nature. He had seen the weapon only once before, when he'd found Orochimaru standing over the body of Sasuke atop the Hokage's offices. The blade had been dripping with Sasuke's blood then. Naruto could still see the rivulets of dark liquid running down the deadly weapon in his mind's eye. The snake had dismissed his weapon back to wherever he kept it when Naruto had confronted him. And that had been it. The snake had died. When the Sound was destroyed shortly thereafter the sword had not been found. It was surmised that a Sound survivor had managed to escape with the weapon before the Leaf forces could penetrate into the inner sanctum of the underground base. That theory now appeared to have been correct. But how it had gotten into the hands of an underworld crime boss outside of the elemental countries was beyond explaining.

Naruto traced the evil aura of the weapon with his chakra senses. His lip curled in disgust as he felt the sword's aura surge with killer intent as his hand brushed along the flat of the blade. Even when not held the weapon yearned to feel flesh and blood. It was a perfect weapon, balanced and razor sharp, harder then diamond. Legend had it that a god had created the weapon ages ago. Demons had fallen under its cutting edge and had, as they died, imparted pieces of their rage and blood lust to the weapon until it almost had a life of its own. Staring at it now Naruto could easily see why Orochimaru had sough to own the weapon.

Spitting in revulsion Naruto grabbed up the scabbard and sheathed the sword in one clean motion. Of course the scabbard wasn't much better to look at then the sword. An incredibly intricate snake was carved into the jade and black metal of the scabbard. Its eye slots had, at one time, held emeralds but those were long gone, most likely dug out be whoever had first stolen the sword from the Sound stronghold. But somehow, even without the gem eyes, Naruto still felt like the snake was watching him somehow. And the thought of sightless holes watching him disturbed him more then eyes would have.

"That's some blade you have there man," said a voice from behind him. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see a young man standing several feet behind him. Naruto had understood him perfectly which meant the boy was probably Japanese. "I've never felt such a powerful aura coming from a weapon before," he continued. "Quite impressive."

Naruto nodded and shoved the weapon into his pack, out of sight. "Evil but powerful, yes." Naruto said, standing to face the younger man. He didn't look to be much over seventeen or so but he had the body and grace of a fighter. His black hair was held out of his face by a yellow bandanna. He wore a rough yellow shirt, black pants, and shoes that laced up around his lower legs. He carried a pack slightly smaller then Naruto's own on his back and strapped over its top was a red bamboo umbrella.

The blond grinned roguishly at the young man as he hefted his pack. "I'm impressed. It takes a good martial artist to be able to sense auras, even strong ones, and locate them with any certainty. What do you study?"

The young fighter displayed his own cocky smile and thumbed his chest. "Me? I'm pretty much just a hard style fighter. Self-taught I guess you could say. What about you?"

"Several styles of Taijutsu with a few other forms mixed in," Naruto answered. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the pommel of the sword sticking out of his pack. "The sword is just something I picked up from a fight a while back. I could use it but I'm a bit rusty on the technique."

"I've never used a sword myself. I find my umbrella works well enough for me." The boy's smile faded into a sneer of anger. "Course I never would have even learned that if it wasn't for Ranma. CURSE YOU RANMA! I'LL GET YOU YET!"

Naruto winched at his companion's sudden volume increase but his attention was drawn to a small speedboat that had come along side suddenly and had begun disgorging masked figures.

"I'm sure there's a story behind that curse," Naruto said quickly, "but I'm also pretty sure these guys don't mean our ride any good." He pointed at the hooded men now swarming towards the conning tower at the aft end of the ship.

The other traveler spared a look aft then did a double take. "Pirates! And they've got guns. This is just what I need to work off some stress," he said as he pulled off his backpack and grabbed his umbrella. Naruto grabbed his arm before he could run off and yanked him around to face himself.

"We can't just rush in. I've never encountered a gun before but I've heard what they can do and I doubt charging in would be a healthy idea."

"I'm not afraid of a few guns!" the boy yelled in defiance as he tried to yank his arm out of Naruto's grasp but failed. Naruto simply tightened his grip until his companion winched in pain and stopped trying to escape.

"Now that I have your attention here's what we're going to do. You head up the left side and move towards the rear. I'm pretty sure they'll head for the bridge. I'll head down the right and meet you there ok? OK?"

"Eheheh…sure," he said, rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably. "Whatever you say. Meet at the bridge, right."

Naruto nodded and was gone, dropping his pack in the process. His partner grimaced at the pain in his arm but pushed it away and charged up the left.

As Naruto ran he evaluated his options. It was highly doubtful that any of these bandits had ninja or martial arts training so special attack techniques didn't need to be used. The guns, however, could pose a problem. Naruto had no idea how they worked or what their capabilities were. All he knew was they shot small metal pellets really really fast. Fast enough to pierce strait through even metal. So it would be better to avoid contact and pick them off without being seen.

Naruto grinned a foxy grin. That would be easy enough to do.

>>>> 

The pirates that had been left in the speedboat blinked in surprise as a small metal knife thudded into the deck directly in front of them. They looked at each other then together they leaned down for a closer inspection. The small puff of smoke from the paper wrapped around the handle was the last thing they saw.

The explosion alerted the rest of the pirate crew that something was up. The leader, who had just managed to back the ship's bridge crew into a corner with his AK-47, looked out the bridge windows in awe as his own boat was blown out of the water by the explosion. The two other pirates with him turned and ran for the stairwell they'd just come up to see if any of their friends had survived.

Down below on the main deck pirates were rushing everywhere. Some ran to the point of the explosion. Others, smarter then the first group, spread out to search for another method of escape from the cargo ship.

The first group got a neck full of shuriken each for their troubles. The second group heard their companions' shrieks of death. Half of them turned back to find out what had happened now. The other half continued on, now even more desperate to find an escape route.

The first half ran head long into Naruto's waiting trap. Razor sharp wires cut the forerunners throats. Those behind took a mixture of senbon and shuriken and went down with barely a gurgle.

The second half, who had chosen to find an escape route instead of going to their friends' aid, were greeted near the port lifeboat by a whirlwind of fists, feet, razor sharp bandannas, and a beefy umbrella; courtesy of Naruto's companion.

>>>> 

The umbrella wielding boy was bleeding from multiple wounds all over his body when he stumbled into the bridge to find Naruto standing over the unconscious pirate leader, the man's gun in the hands of the ship's captain.

The blond looked up in surprise and then smiled lopsidedly. "What took you so long? I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone." Naruto's smile disappeared and was replaced by a grimace as he saw the state his new friend was in. "Looks like you had a bit of trouble on your end. You ok?"

The umbrella dropped to the deck as the boy staggered and leaned against one of the bridge consoles. "Did you…do that? On the stairs up? Did you…kill those men?" The boy's eyes were wide in combined wonder, disgust, and pain. "You killed them didn't you?" he grunted as he clutched at his belly, looking physically sick.

Naruto nodded sagely. "They were common thugs that wouldn't have thought for a second before killing me or you. Where I come from it would have been considered a favor to the state, my loyal duty even, to rid the land of people like these." He kicked the pirate commander for emphasis.

"I thought you were a martial artist," the boy said with as much emphasis as he could manage through the pain. "It's a martial artist's duty to protect those in need, but never to kill!"

The blond blinked at the boy's statement. Somewhere deep inside he heard a deep guffaw of laughter from the fox. He almost did the same but reigned himself in in consideration for the boy and the ships crew. "Opinions like that would get some weird stares where I'm from," Naruto said instead. "I know because I thought the same way. But doing what I did for a living sorta beat it out of me."

Naruto didn't get a response from his fellow fighter. The black haired boy's eyes rolled up into his skull as he fainted, crumpling to a bloody heap on the deck. The blond reacted instantly, moving at speeds far faster then the bridge crew's eyes could follow, he appeared next his new friend and hefted him onto his back in the wink of an eye. "You got a doctor on this ship?" he yelled.

A small bespectacled man rushed from amid the group of crew to Naruto's side and made a quick inspection of the boy on his back. Naruto could feel the man's surprise and amazement skyrocket suddenly followed by an audible gasp. "This young man has been shot at least a dozen times! It's impossible. He should have been dead instantly."

"What? By a gun you mean?" Naruto asked, slightly confused. He had no idea what a bullet wound looked like.

The doctor looked at him funny, like he'd grown another head or something, and simply turned back to his inspection. "Of course by a gun. And how did you manage to get away from being shot young man? We saw at least twenty pirates come aboard before we radioed for help."

Naruto shrugged and tried to shift the doctor's attention away from himself and back to his wounded friend. "Forget them, they're gone. We need to get him some attention now though."

The doctor nodded in agreement and began heading for the door. "Follow me. Lets get him to the wardroom and stabilize him. He needs to last until the harbor authority gets to us. They'll be able to airlift him to a hospital."

Naruto only hoped they'd be able to make it in time.

* * *

Well that one was long and convoluted. I've taken Naruto to the nextstage of the story and introduced the firstcrossover. It should have been very obvious to those of you who know me. For those of you who don't just take a look at my bio and figure it out.Hope you enjoyed it.


	15. Naruto does Tokyo

Yes you all have it right. The first crossover in this story is with Ranma1/2. Good for you. Pat yourselves on the back since I can't reach. For those of you who wondered how Ryoga found his way to the bridge without getting lost...I attribute it to the incredible amount of pain combined with the horror of seeing dead people. Combinations like that tend to provoke a singleness of mind that is astonishing. lol. Also, for those who want to know i'm clocking Naruto's age in at about 150 right now. Anyway, on with the story!

You guys know all about me not owning these anime right? good.

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Ryoga Hibiki woke to the sound of steady beeping and the hum of machines close by. He cracked open an eye and found a clean white ceiling above him. Seeing as this wasn't very informative he turned his head slightly to get a better perspective on where he was. Medical machines and an IV drip were the first things he saw which prompted him to groan and close his eye again. 

He remembered what had happened and shuddered at some of the images those memories came with. He'd blown through the remaining pirates like a cannon ball. But the pirates had been better shots then he'd expected. The pain from the bullet wounds had nearly been enough to take him down but he soldiered on, defeating the pirates and ending the threat to the ship.

That hadn't been so bad. It was what he'd found on the climb up to the bridge that left him wishing he'd simply passed out down on the deck.

Two dead pirates had crowded the stairs up to the bridge. One was slumped over the railing while the other was sprawled in a very un-natural position on the stairs themselves. Both had had their weapons pinned to their hands by needles. The one on the stairs also had a single needle, almost invisible against the man's dark clothing, directly through the heart. Ryoga hadn't wanted to find out about the other one. The strangest thing though had been the lack of any major amounts of blood. There had been a few spatters here and there but over all the scene had been remarkable clean.

Ryoga scrunched up his face as he forced himself to try and forget the horrible scene he'd encountered. What that effort left was the image of his erstwhile companion standing over the downed pirate captain with a cocky grin on his face hovering in front of his mind's eye. That...man...had been the one who'd killed those two pirates. And yet he had been smiling, joking even, about the encounter.

A growl started deep down in Ryoga's throat as his disgust for the blond man grew. He had presented himself as a martial artist. He had moved like one, talked like one, and had had the strength of one. But no honorable martial artist would kill someone weaker then himself. If they did it made them scum, lower then the low, not worthy of the name Martial Artist. If he ever crossed paths with that one again he'd...

"Yo. You're finally awake I see."

Ryoga's thought process screeched to a grinding halt as the voice interrupted him. Survival instincts kicked in and Ryoga found himself squashed up against the head of his bed, as far away from the blond haired menace as he could possibly get at the moment.

The blond in question was currently seated on a chair near the foot of Ryoga's bed. His feet were propped up on the bed's metal end frame, a travel atlas in his lap.

"GAH! YOU!" Ryoga screamed, pointing a shaking finger at the blond. The man cocked an eyebrow at the finger then turned his sky blue eyes questioningly back to meet Ryoga's.

"Me what? I wasn't about to leave someone who fought along side me to rot in a hospital alone. A friend stays to make sure those injured pull through." The blond said as he closed the travel atlas and took his feet down from the bed.

Ryoga bared his fangs and continued to point. "You're no friend. No friend of mine would kill people, even pirates."

The blue eyes hardened. "No? This 'friend' healed you as best he could, got rid of any incriminating evidence before the authorities showed up, and made sure you got the treatment you needed here. Not that you wouldn't have done fine without coming here. But maybe we've got different definitions of the word friend." Naruto stood abruptly and scooped up his pack. "Sorry to have helped, Hibiki Ryoga."

With that he slid open the door and slipped out with barely a sound.

Ryoga relaxed when he heard the click of the door shutting. He listened for the sound of receding footsteps but heard nothing. He held his breath to see if he could hear the man outside but after a minute or two of listening all he got was a rapidly increasing roaring in his ears indicating his lungs needed air.

After waiting for a few more minutes Ryoga got frustrated and decided to get up, which he did. Or at least he tried to. A combination of the medical cords and lines and his surprisingly drained power caused him to fall flat on his face.

With many curses, most directed at a certain rival, Ryoga managed to get himself back onto his hospital bed. After removing the various cords attached to his person he made an inspection of his wounds. He'd been shot before and hadn't had a big problem with it. It had hurt like hell and had left a scars but due to his tough skin the bullets never get past the muscle tissue. They might look bad to the untrained eye, since they bled a lot, but they really weren't life threatening.

Of course he'd never been shot at with multiple automatic weapons before. The number of hits he'd taken had overwhelmed even his incredibly high pain thresholds. And that was saying something. Ryoga expected to find small round scars all over his body but what he expected wasn't what he found. Instead he found healthy new pink skin in the places he knew he'd been wounded without a hint of scarring anywhere.

He gawked for a few minutes, unable to comprehend what had happened. He simply stared and poked at his perfectly healthy, undamaged, skin like he was seeing it for the first time.

Then, of course, reality hit him like always. That is, it hit him like a semi truck packed with C4. (Don't ask how he knew it felt. This is Ryoga we're talking about. He tends to run into the oddest things when distracted by a pretty face. So just trust me.)

Ryoga blinked. Then he blinked some more. He glanced at the door as an idea formed in his mind. With inhuman strength that he hadn't possessed a moment ago he dashed to the door and flung it open. "HEY WAIT! COULD YOU HELP ME GET BACK TO JAPAN!" he yelled, hoping to find the mysterious blond still within hearing range.

Of course he wasn't. Ryoga had waited too long. He hung his head in despair, ignorant of the odd looks he was getting from the hospital staff, and cursed the only name that came to mind. (Take a wild guess.)

Still mumbling threats about beating Ranma to a pulp when he next found him, Ryoga turned and stepped back into his room...only to find himself suddenly on the roof.

He blinked.

"I didn't know I had roof access from my hospital roo...wait."

He turned around and found no doorway within fifty feet of him.

"CURSE YOU RANMA!"

>>>>

Naruto got back down to the docks and began to search for another ship to Japan. It really wasn't that hard to locate one. Half the ships in the harbor seemed to either be coming from or going to Tokyo so it was just a matter of finding which one was leaving soonest.

Luck was with him. There was another container ship leaving for Yokohama in an hour and it only took a small wad of cash from Naruto's rather large reserve to convince the captain to let him bum it. Food was all he asked for but the captain, still looking rather happy after the generous amount Naruto had given him, insisted that he would have a bed as well. The blond, now disguised as a thirty year old with black hair, thanked him profusely and allowed himself to be escorted to the cabin that would be his for the voyage.

After dropping his pack Naruto made his way to the fantail and watched as the ship slipped her moorings and made its way out of the harbor. No pirate made an appearance that evening as the ship made its clumsy way around the tip of Singapore and started its journey north. No doubt they'd been scared off by the rumors of what had happened the previous day.

Naruto frowned and let out a long sigh as he recalled his actions that day. The pirate gang had been close to thirty strong when they'd boarded the ship. Six minutes later there were only seven left alive.

Once Ryoga had been left in the care of the ship's doctor Naruto had asked that the remainder of the crew stay on the bridge while he went and dealt with the pirates. Experience had taught him to get rid of evidence quickly and efficiently. The dead bodies were quickly weighted and dropped overboard. What blood there was was cleaned up using a simple jutsu. Weapons and packs were retrieved and placed in a secure location. And the unconscious pirates were tied up and placed in a locked storeroom. All this was done before the first harbor patrol boat reached the scene.

When the authorities had stormed aboard with weapons drawn Naruto had secretly joined their ranks using a henge and had taken it as his responsibility to guard Ryoga in the small medical room. He had kicked the ship doctor out of the room "for security sake" and, once he knew he wouldn't be disturbed, had proceeded to do his best to heal the boy's wounds. When the medivac helicopter arrived He bluffed his way aboard the chopper stating that the young man was still under guard. He managed to sneak the packs on at the last second.

By the time the cops realized that whoever had dealt with the pirates was no longer on board Naruto was busy helping the doctors rush Ryoga down to the emergency room. Once that was done he had changed his henge again to make him into a rather nondescript female nurse. It had been rather easy to stay hidden after that.

Naruto had watched through the night, via tv as well as first person viewing, as the authorities tried to make sense of the who thing. The stories put forth by both the ship's crew and the remaining pirates could not be validated. No other bodies had been found yet and the mysterious blond from their accounts had up and vanished. The destroyed speedboat only made them scratch their heads more. The last Naruto had heard before he'd gotten on his present ride was that the cops had impounded the ship and placed both the pirates and the crew under arrest, both under suspicion of hijacking.

He scratched his jaw as he wondered what would become of the unfortunate ships crew, and of the Hibiki boy. Naruto was still unsure about the young man. He'd displayed an impressive will to fight and win but his depression and anger drove him more then it should have. He'd seen that anger hovering just below the surface when he'd stopped the boy's mad rush when the pirates had boarded. He'd seen it festering and aching to be set loose and had been reminded slightly of Sasuke in his younger years. He wasn't motivated solely be revenge, like Sasuke had been, but by Loss and Loneliness. Revenge had been there too but it had taken a backseat to the former. His fighting style most likely suffered because of his inherent emotional nature.

Naruto shook his head and laughed as he found himself outlining possible training systems to best suit the angry young man. Unfortunately, Naruto thought as he looked back on Sasuke's problems, a shrink was probably what the boy needed most.

"Not like it matters anyway. I doubt I'll be seeing him ever again," Naruto said as he turned and left the deck for the comfort of his new bunk.

Somewhere, in some ageless place, a kami nearly died laughed.

>>>>

A week later Naruto watched as the ship docked among the hustle and bustle of Tokyo Harbor. Naruto had thought Singapore was big but Tokyo beat it hands down. Just the harbor itself was double the size of the previous cities. And the buildings on shore seemed to stretch out beyond the horizon with only a lone white capped mountain as a distant reference point. Other then that it was city and water where ever his eye roamed.

As Naruto made his way down the gangway to the dock itself, a sense of foreboding began to grow within his mind. Each step seemed to be leading up to the final one, the one that would put him solidly on Japanese soil. With each footfall the feeling massed until he felt ready to burst. He paused on the last step, foot outstretched, hovering over the concrete eight inches below.

'This is it. My arrival here is starting something,' he thought as he stared at his foot, willing it to move. 'My fate is entwined with this place, I know it. But why?'

He breathed a silent prayer to whoever was listening and let his foot drop.

In an instant the feeling left him. The weight disappeared off his shoulders and left him feeling as light as a feather. He planted his other foot down as well and smiled.

>>>>

A little old mouse of a woman, more like a shriveled hairless monkey then anything else, looked up from her boiling pot of water and noodles. She had sensed...something...just then that had sent a chill down her spine.

Several bowls throughout her restaurant suddenly split in two. A glass of water a waitress was carrying shattered, dousing the young woman, leaving nothing but her cloths and a small wet cat in her place. The incense candle burning on the counter was snuffed instantly without so much as a puff of wind.

The wrinkled old woman quickly ushered her customers out the door, stating that something had come up and she needed to close shop. Once they were all out Cologne, Elder of the feared Chinese Amazons and leader of the Japanese contingent in Tokyo, glanced up at the sky and wondered what had just transpired.

>>>>

Nearer at hand eight teenagers, two twenty-somethings, and two very irregular cats each felt a similar chill rush up their collective spines. Their heads rose together, almost simultaneously in fact, to wonder what had happened. Only one however went back to what she was doing with a smile.

'Just as I predicted,' the young green haired woman thought with a smirk. 'Damn I love my job.'

* * *

Ah more crossover goodness. I know it was a bit short but i've got a long weekend to prepare for. Betcha can't guess which anime is next on the crossover list. I gave a significant hint in the last paragraph.S_nickers at the thought of all the uberness that is about to combine together to form the ultimate in . . . . . stuff . . . . . yeah, stuff._

**Edit:** _After reading the first fifteen or so reviews to this most recent chapter i'm at a bit of a loss. I'm getting alot of flack for sticking in the Sailor Moon reference and am getting mournful pleas to not add them and take them out. Some people aren't even liking Ranma in this. As your friend i'm sensative to your desires and am most willing to consider possible changes to storylines . . .just not to this story. For the first time I have a clear idea of how the story will work out, something i've never had happen before in one of my FF stories, so I am very guarded about changing how it will end and SM just happens to be key to the story. I'll consider small changes but in all likelyhood SM will stay as will Ranma. Sorry if this disappoints some of you but thats the way I roll. I will miss you if you go but I will continue to write even without you._


	16. Home Sweet Home

_Hi there everyone. Yet another chapter produced for your enjoyment. I should have been working on a school paper but I felt you guys deserved another chapter._

_My thanks to all those who supported my decision to keep to my story line. I know lots of you aren't happy to see a story you like vear off in a direction you feel isn't smart. But thats the way it goes. I hope you can still enjoy what I have to offer. _

_The first part of this chapter actually should have been the end of the last chapter but I got side tracked._

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__Thump. . ._

_Thump. . ._

_Thump. . . Thump_

Fierce orange eyes opened for the first time in decades as a wave of familiar spiritual energy coursed through the host's body, starting at the toes and working its way upward. Massive ears flicked in interest and paws bigger then small houses opened wide in a deep stretch to reveal killer claws. And from somewhere deep inside the chest of the beast came a deeply satisfied rumble.

'_**Home...'**_

**_>>>> _**

The All Inclusive Guide to Tokyo For Gaijin states that Tokyo is best viewed at night from one of the many skyscrapers in the heart of downtown. Many of these are topped by first class bars and restaurants and can only be entered if one has deep pockets. Therefore, the guide states, either be prepared to pay heavily or find a cheaper and less splendid alternative.

Naruto had taken the warning to heart and had found, what he considered, a much better 'alternative'. And while the cocktail service was lacking, the view from atop the Tokyo Tower was well worth the loss.

Sitting atop the windblown observation level roof Naruto had a fantastic view of the night life Tokyo enjoyed. It was a warm star studded night, complete with full moon and cloudless sky. Combined with the sights and sounds the city offered they created a sense of fun and warmth that he hadn't felt since his first trip with Jiriaya all those years ago to bring back Tsunade as fifth hokage. The city they'd visited had had much the same air as Tokyo did tonight. Full of excitement and electricity that got the heart pumping. It brought out the thrill seekers and playboys, the club hoppers and the gangs. All of them out for a good night on the town.

But instead of joining them Naruto merely observed. No matter how much he wanted to be down there living it up he did have goals and the goals came first.

Using one of the tower's own structure lights for a reading light he dug out his travel atlas and Jiriaya's notes as well as the four books he'd bought earlier that day to begin working up a list of sites he would visit. First he back checked Jiriaya's list to make sure all the locations were still active. Once that was done he began working his way through his purchases and adding to the list. The books were compilations of temples and holy places in the Tokyo area, the Osaka area, and all of Japan, as well as the afore mentioned Tokyo Travel Guide.

The guides made for fascinating reading and Naruto quickly found himself wishing he'd bought more books. He glanced at his pack in distaste, knowing that it didn't have any more space for books, but still wishing it did. Then a thought hit him. He set aside his books and notes and pulled his pack to him and began digging out his small collection of cloths.

'Three sets of normal cloths, including what I've got on now,' he noted, 'plus my uniform.' He grimaced as he remembered some of the weird outfits he'd seen kids his apparent age wearing around Tokyo. 'Talk about weird tastes. But at least I've got em beat in the hair department,' he thought in amusement. He looked back at his rather conservative cloths and decided not to ditch them in favor of the fashion disasters that seemed to be the "in" thing here. 'I can always change my age so I don't stand out so much.

Naruto laughed as he tried picturing himself in some of the cloths he'd seen early that day. Then, out of nowhere, he tried imagining his old friends wearing some of those cloths. Even the thought of _suggesting_ Sasuke wear some of those cloths left him in so much laughter induced pain that he had to stop for fear of bursting something.

Wiping away the tears of merriment from his eyes he began re-packing his cloths again. The uniform was the last to go back in. He paused to rub the fabric gently, eliciting a much sadder smile then the one he'd worn mere moments ago. Without thinking about it he reached deep into his bag and pulled out a black cloth bag that was string tied closed. Undoing the ties, he tipped the bag on end and dumped out it's contents. Naruto caught the lone item and smiled wistfully at it.

The ANBU style mask he'd had made during his time serving the Fire countries Daimyou was still in near pristine condition. The white and red mask was styled to look like a grinning fox. Granted the grin looked downright evil but this _was_ an ANBU mask. Naruto had only used it on rare occasions, preferring to use his half face mask or no mask at all in all but the most secretive or dangerous of missions. He'd more often used it as a way to scare genin and chuunin in their exams then for real missions. Hinata had called it his "scary mask" more in jest then in truth, she of course knowing the inspiration behind the mask. The last time he'd used it had been ten years ago in the water country when he'd needed to terrorize a band of thugs that had been attacking the village he'd taken up residence in.

He held the mask out at arms length and smiled at it. "What am I going to do with you my friend?" he asked the mask.

The mask grinned back at him and said nothing.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not getting rid of you. Just wondering where we go from here." He glanced back at his books and notes. "What will change? What will be different when the fox is gone? Will I die? Will I lead a normal life and die in time? Or will I stay immortal?" Naruto glared at his stomach and tried to imagine what the fox would leave him with. "Knowing him he'd probably leave me as an immortal just to spite me," Naruto finally said.

"**Or maybe I'd just say you think too much for a little pest and kill you instantly."**

Naruto fumbled his mask and nearly dropped it over the edge of the tower in his surprise. He stumbled back from the edge and landed on his ass amid his books and things.

"You!" Naruto yelled in near panic.

"**Me," **said the disembodied voice in his head. It was a deep grating voice that seemed to fill his whole head when it spoke. He'd almost forgotten what the demon's voice sounded like after so long without it.

Naruto got a grip on himself and directed his thoughts back at the fox. 'You bastard! After all these years! Why the hell haven't you spoken up before now! Not that I wanted you talkin to me in my head. Whatcha been doin all these years? Snoozing?'

A deep throated evil chuckle answered him. **"As a matter of fact I was. I grew tired of watching your pathetic excuse for a life. You humans are such boring creatures. You don't deserve to be anything but food for the likes of me and mine."**

Naruto gagged and sputtered. He'd hardly have called his life pathetic or boring.

'Shut yer trap you no good flee infested squatter. How dare you call my life pathetic! I was Hokage! I was the most powerful man in all of the Elementals! And you have the audacity to call me BORING!'

"**Shut up kid. Now I remember why I stopped talking to you. You're nothing but a loud annoying brat."**

'Then why the hell are you choosing now of all times to start a conversation? Go back to sleep and leave me alone why don't you. Mangy excuse for a street mutt.'

The demon laughed heartily. **"No one ever had the nerve to call me a mutt to my face kid. That's the one good thing about you kid, you've got spunk. I'm still gonna kill you though. Oh yes, that I will."**

Naruto ground his teeth together in annoyance. 'You didn't answer the question yeh stupid fox. Actually don't answer the question. Just shut up and go back to doing whatever it was you were doing.'

Another laugh, this time more menacing. **"I've lowered myself to talk to your sorry ass because of where your afore mentioned ass has decided to take me. Feel special, your life is now interesting enough to partake of again."**

'And why would that be, oh great and smelly one?' Naruto asked in mock politeness.

"**Because you brought me home."**

That brought Naruto up short. The blond's mouth worked a bit, unsure of what to say. 'Home? I brought you...home? You mean Tokyo, er, Japan is your home?'

Naruto could almost feel the deep draft of air being sucked in through the beast's nostrils as he tested the air.

**"Indeed."**

Well that was certainly interesting. A thousand questions began to circulate through his mind as he thought about the implications of what the demon had just said. Naruto opened his mental mouth to ask the first one that popped into his mind but Kyuubi cut him off.

"**Not now pest. I wish to savor the moment. Your feeble minded questions can wait."**

The blond felt the mental link drop as Kyuubi severed his connection. Naruto was left sitting there looking off into space with his mouth open, unsure of what had just happened. His left hand twitched, reminding him of the mask he'd nearly lost. He brought it up and looked at it again. The twistedly evil smile the mask sported looked very annoying at the moment considering how his conversation had just gone. His grip tightened, making the mask creak slightly under the pressure as he let his anger with the fox brew.

Luckily he didn't get the time to dwell on his anger and questions. The sound of explosions close by quickly shifted his attention away from the fox problem. Naruto looked down over the edge of the tower and quickly spotted the bright flashing lights and explosions that marked the scene of a high powered fight of some kind. His trademark grin swept onto his face in a flash. 'Just what I need right now.'

He practically flew into his uniform, donning it faster then he had in years. He grabbed up his weapon holster and belt pack and strapped them on along with his arm and leg armor and vest. He hesitated a moment before grabbing up the sword of Kusanagi and strapping it on as well.

Naruto was back at the edge of the tower before a minute had passed. The fight had moved closer to the tower in the time he had taken to get dressed. The explosions were moving deeper into the park area that surrounded the tower.

"Time to go to work," he said as he donned his mask and disappeared from sight.

>>>>

The fight was not going well for the Sailor Scouts.

The three Youma had appeared among shoppers at a small mall near Tokyo Tower and had promptly begun draining the people of their energy. The crowd had dispersed as best it could, with most making their way out the north exit, which opened directly towards the tower.

The scouts had arrived just in time to see the last of the people fall, drained of their energy, amid the cars in the parking lot.

Moon said her piece as they confronted the trio of ten foot tall creatures. The youma hadn't liked what she'd had to say and had promptly attacked in a well coordinate strike against the moon princess. Only the timely intervention of Sailor Venus had kept the creatures from pounding Moon into the pavement. A well placed Venus Love Chain tripped them up and allowed the scouts to get Moon out of the way.

This particular pack of youma turned out to be quite powerful and agile for their size. They were capable of dodging physical attacksvery well and even the girl's magical attacks had a tough time landing a critical blow. Only the combination of a Mercury Shabon Spray and a powerful Sparkling Wide Pressure from Jupiter managed to put one out of action long enough for it to be finished off.

Unfortunately for the girls, the youma were also smart enough to know Mercury's paralyzing mists had to go. Mercury was blasted through a concrete wall and put out of action; Promptly putting the scouts back at square one until Mercury could rejoin the fight.

"Damnit, Watch the one on the left Venus!" Sailor Mars shouted as she catapulted off a tree which self destructed under the powerful fist of one of the youma.

Venus yelled a confirmation but wasn't fast enough to avoid grazing the fist meant for her chest. She was knocked skidding to the ground. Luckily she knew to roll with it and was quickly back on her feet clutching her side. "These things won't quit!" she said, "Where are the Outers when you need em!"

Tuxedo Kamen parried a blow meant for Sailor Moon as the princess frantically tried to contact the Outers via their communicators. "Hurry up Moon, I can't hold them off much longer."

Sailor Moon was close to tears at this point. "I'm trying! Please pick up. Where are you Uranus? Neptune come in please. We need you...Waaaahhh!" The ground below Moon erupted out from beneath her, launching her up into the sky and then dropping her roughly on her butt.

Tuxedo Kamen yelled in surprise as he too was blasted off the ground. He, however, didn't land anywhere near the ground. He hit a tree and was knocked out, falling to a lower branch and lodging there.

>>>>

Naruto arrived in time to see a tuxedo clad man fly into a tree and fail to re-emerge. He ticked that fact off in his mind and surveyed the rest of the battle from another tree.

What he saw almost sent him toppling out of the tree in gales of laughter. Four teenage girls in the craziest, most revealing costumes he'd ever seen were busy fending off two monsters more then twice their height. He ruthlessly clamped down on the desire to laugh and began assessing the opponents.

'Tall, tough skin, fast, brawlers by the look of them. What are they?' He wondered. 'And who were they fighting? The girls couldn't have been the ones these things were fighting.' But Naruto was proved wrong almost instantly when a very buxom young brunette in green launched a discus of crackling green and white energy at the nearest of the two creatures. The spheroid failed to contact and instead took out a small clump of trees.

Naruto whistled quietly. These girls were more then they appeared to be. If they could all launch attacks like that then they were definitely not someone to laugh at, even if they had horrible uniforms.

"**Youma. Haven't seen their like for ages," **said a familiar disembodied voice. Kyuubi was taking an interest as well.

'What are they?' Naruto asked.

Kyuubi was quick to respond. **"Chakra demons. They feed off of and gather others' chakra for their masters. Low class demons usually. A combination of Chakra and a physical focus point such as a jewel or crystal. I used to control whole legions of them."**

'So you know how to beat them then,' Naruto stated as he continued to watch the progress of the battle. The girls had reformed together around the tree the man had been thrown into when he had arrived. One of them was up there now trying to revive him while the others attempted to hold off the youma.

"**Of course I do," **Kyuubi huffed. **"But why would I tell you?"**

Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance and heard Kyuubi's fading laughter as he once again cut their communications. "Damn fox, you could have at least given me a pointer," he mumbled.

The blond continued to observe the battle for a few more moments before deciding on a course of action. Biting his finger he produced a dab of blood and streaked it across his palm. 'Better to keep out of sight for this one. I'd rather not have to introduce myself.'

'KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU: GUFUUKEN!' (Summoning Technique: Hurricane Blade)

A blast of smoke announced the arrival of Naruto's summons. Thankfully no one but Naruto noticed. When the smoke cleared a massive shuriken, easily over six feet tall, sat clutched in Naruto's outstretched arm.

Taking careful note of where the two youma were in relation to the girls, Naruto tensed his legs beneath him and launched himself off the tree limb he'd been perched on and into the sky. Once he reached the apex of his flight he spun his body with all his might and let loose the huge throwing star.

>>>>

Jupiter was about to call for a strategic withdraw, ready to note that everyone was at extremely low power, when what sounded like a speeding freight train fell on them like a bat out of hell. She barely had time to register the appearance of the huge spinning weapon before it had neatly cut through one of the youma and ended its flight lodged in a tree with the second youma stuck between it and the huge tree trunk.

For the barest of seconds no one moved in the small clearing, nor said a word. Then the remaining beast's scream tore the girls out of their amazed stupor and put them into action. A Burning Mandala and a Supreme Thunder put an end to the youma's screams.

The scouts sighed collectively as the last youma vanished in a blink of energy and light. Then they groaned as Sailor Moon lost her balance and fell out of the tree with Tuxedo Kamen in her arms.

"Ouchy! Hey...what happened to the bag guys? Woah! Where'd _that_ come from?" Moon asked, pointing at the giant shuriken still stuck in the tree near by.

The girls big sweated. "It just came out of no where. There was just this horrible tearing sound and then it was there," Sailor Venus said, eyeing the deadly looking weapon with horror.

Jupiter, being the martial artist that she was, found the shuriken more intriguing then the others. "Someone's gotta have a really good arm to throw something like that around. That thing must weight at least several hundred pounds." The brunette approached the weapon like it was radioactive. Her hand got within three feet of the blade when it exploded in a puff of smoke. She backed away coughing and waving her hands. When she stopped and opened her eyes again the weapon was gone, leaving only a deep gouge in the tree to signify it had been there.

The girls blink blinked as Jupiter ran her hand over the big scar. The hole was big enough to stick her hand into up to the wrist. She turned to look back at the area the weapon had come from and whistled in amazement.

Uranus and Neptune chose that moment to come running onto the battlefield. They stopped in confusion when they saw the others simply standing there. Saturn showed up as well, helping along a battered and limping Sailor Mercury.

An awkward moment later Uranus spoke. "So, what'd we miss?"

Four battered and tired sailor suited warriors of love and justice face planted.

"What?"

* * *

_There you go, hope you enjoyed. Just one more chapter including the sailors before they disappear for a while. After them Ranma 1/2 will be the main focus for a while. After that...we'll see what happens. Grin._


	17. Of Demons and Shrine Maidens

Alright! Here's another chapter for you hungry readers out there. This will be the final SM related chapter for a while so you can rest easy. And i'm sorry for all those who may find Mercury's personality slightly off. Out of all the scouts I've found she is the hardest to write sometimes because of her blandness and occasional inability to express emotion, or so it seems.

I don't own any of these anime. I only take credit for the idea of throwing them together like this.

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"KUSO! RUNNING RUNNING RUNNING!"

"DIE DEMON! POLLUTE OUR CITY NO LONGER!"

Naruto leapt over another hail of ward arrows and bounced off a roof in a desperate attempt to flee the enraged priestess who seemed hell bent on purging him from the face of the earth.

'This is all your fault you stupid fox!' he thought for the hundredth time as another arrow came far too close for comfort. Naruto could have sworn he'd dodged the stupid thing by a mile but they always seemed to swerve at the last moment. Only sharp reflexes and chakra enhanced muscles were keeping him from becoming a pincushion for the delusional bow wielding shrine maiden.

The blond knew the fox was rolling around in its cage howling in laughter at their predicament but had clamped down on their connection so he didn't have to hear it. After about the fifth time it had grown kinda old.

>>>> 

After his evening jaunt with the magical girls he'd returned to his spot atop the tower and had gone back to diligently listing out temples and shrines that looked promising.

The next day he'd begun the search, starting at the temple closest to the tower and working his way outward. He hadn't even made it to the first one before trouble had found him in the form of a truancy officer. Naruto had scratched his head in puzzlement when the officer had asked him why he wasn't in school. He had told the man he'd just come into town from out of country but the man had given him a look that told him he'd heard it all before. The officer had asked him for some identification and what school he went to. Naruto had only shrugged and told him he didn't have any ID and didn't go to school. For some reason that had angered the man greatly and he had promptly grabbed Naruto's arm and tried to pulled him off. Naruto had just twisted out of the man's hand and vanished, leaving the man wondering what had just happened.

After changing his appearance to that of a twenty five year old he'd continued on his way and had arrived at the temple without any further problems. But luck had chosen not to smile on him that day, or any day afterward as far as he was concerned. Naruto hadn't even made it past the temple gates before he'd been zapped and thrown back twenty feet by the spirit walls that guarded the temple grounds. His cloths had still been smoking when a couple of priestesses had attacked him and forced him off.

Naruto had reluctantly retreated to a nearby café to reassess his plans. He hadn't expected there to be any problem with getting into the temple and was left dumbfounded as to what he would do. Having limited information on such subjects as temple defense and demon warding he was forced to simply try again. Unfortunately his first visit had left the temple denizens on edge and his reappearance certainly didn't help one bit. When he'd finally escaped he'd pulled out his list and scratched off the temple name in disgust.

Then he'd tried another.

The defenses of each temple and shrine varied from location to location. On several occasions he didn't even get within sight of the temple before he was sent running by arrows and spells. In other cases he actually managed to get in and initiate conversations with temple keepers only to have something happen that had him dodging death a moment later. But most of the time he was stopped at the gates, usually by spirit walls of some sort or another. And most of those spirit walls alerted some overly righteous temple maiden to his presence which prompted a hasty retreat. And, as Naruto noted, most of the maidens had the indecency to look pretty while trying to rid the world of his supposed demon ass.

And each time the fox let his humor be known with resounding laughter and scorn. Naruto was sure the wards and spells hurt the fox just as much, if not more, as they did him but for some reason it only seemed to drive the demon to greater amusement.

>>>> 

A sigh of relief escaped his chest as he turned a corner and leapt to the roof tops to make good his escape. He was in mid air when the priestess turned the corner behind him, close on his tail, and was up and over the lip of the roof before she could let loose another of her demon seeking arrows. Her howl of frustration let Naruto know the chase had ended.

He didn't stop however. He'd learned to continue moving for at least several blocks just to make sure they didn't resume the chase. Naruto finally stopped atop a four story office building that had a rather large roof feature that leant itself as a sunshade quite readily to the depressed ninja.

With a resounding groan Naruto slumped to the ground and leaned back against a shaded wall.

"Damn it! This isn't working!" he yelled at the sky.

The fox chuckled.

"Fuck off you bastard. I do not need your help feeling bad," Naruto growled angrily.

"**Bite me," **came the drawled response but thankfully Kyuubi left it at that.

Naruto sighed again and closed his eyes and wished, not for the first time, that his life was a bit easier. That the fates would give him a break every now and then and just leave him alone. But instead they chose to make his life difficult at every possible important point. The fox, the villagers, the biases, the rivals/friends, the people after his life and the demon's power, his curse, Hinata's inability to bear a child...

Naruto sucked in a deep breath through suddenly tight air passages. That had been a major let down, probably the worst since Sasuke's defection to the Sound. The curse had been bad that was true. He was still dealing with it. But one of the saving graces he'd found with the curse had been the idea that he could have a child or two, watch them grow, have kids of their own.

Naruto had always liked kids, especially those who were younger then him or who were outcasts like himself. He'd felt bad for the them. Even at his lowest, before Team Seven and before Iruka, he'd always managed to be kind to those less fortunate then himself. A smile, a friendly wave, an occasional shared bowl of ramen. Anything he could spare went to those younger then himself that were in need. When he'd become a genin he'd vowed to become Hokage someday. Not only to gain the respect of the people as he so often said, but also to make sure no child ever had to go through what he'd had to.

He'd succeeded in that for the most part. As the Rokudaime he'd thrown as much support as he could muster into the betterment of orphans lives and it had paid off handsomely. The academy rosters had soared to record highs. Minor league sports teams had been revitalized. Public projects had gotten the help they'd needed to be finished. The list went on and on.

But his love of kids hadn't stopped there. When he and Hinata had married they had planned to have loads of kids. Hinata's kindness and Naruto's passion for children would have made an ideal home for any child they bore together.

But it was not to be.

Hinata had been barren. Nothing the doctors could do solved the problem. Even Tsunade had tried and failed. That had been a proverbial kick in the balls for Naruto. His greatest hope for happiness in his extended life span had been dashed. There would be no family, no children or grandchildren, not even one. After Hinata that was it.

He'd taken to spending long hours staring unseeing at the sky. Even his good friend Shikamaru had shaken his head and said he could only take so much of the sky. He hadn't felt so bad since Sasuke's betrayal. But like then he'd eventually snapped out of it. He and Hinata had stopped trying and had put their efforts into orphans instead.

But he'd never forgotten the pain that had come with that loss. It was something that had nagged at him for years, especially after Hinata's death. Remarrying had never been something he'd even considered. After Hinata who was there? No one in the world could match her, of that he was certain.

So he had lived with it. He had watched other families blossom and grow and taken a bit of happiness from that to quench his own thirst. But it was never enough. So it remained as just one more burden to carry. One more ache in the side.

But he couldn't help but think that if they had had just one, just a single one of their own, that he could have stayed and lived happily in Konoha forever. He wouldn't be here now, fruitlessly going from temple to temple looking for something that may not even be real. Perhaps there wasn't an answer to his question. Maybe there wasn't a way to break the seal and rid himself of the demon.

Tears slipped un-noticed down his cheeks as he began to agree more and more with his doubts. He hugged his legs to his chest and dipped his head to hide the fact that he was crying as his sadness gripped him tighter, spilling out from behind the mental and emotional dams he'd created all those years ago. There was no way to get rid of his curse. No way to end his long journey and simply be with his beloved again.

Warmth began to spread from his tear stained cheek. Then he felt the pressure of something pressing up against him. He didn't care what it was. He pressed back against the soft touch and took comfort in its warmth. In his depressed state it took him a few moments for his mind to make the connection that the feeling on his cheek matched very closely with the feeling of a hand.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he reared his head back, expecting to see someone kneeling beside him. But there was no one. A memory of a similar occurrence jolted through his mind. The time on the inn roof right before he'd been confronted by the team from Konoha. It had reminded him of...

"Hinata."

He breathed her name almost religiously.

An image of her smiling form coalesced in his mind. She appeared as the women he'd married; middle aged, calm, and caring. She turned and whispered a question to him.

'Why are you crying?'

Naruto blinked back his tears. Hinata would have known why he was crying. She always had.

Then a voice from off to his right, more feeble and aged but much more real then the first, spoke.

"I asked you why are you crying young man? Did something happen to you? Do you need help?"

He turned and blinked up at the old woman that stood a few feet away from him. She was a kindly looking old lady in a blue and white kimono. She leaned heavily on a wooden cane and looked like she didn't walk much. But despite the pain she must have been feeling her wrinkled face showed only concern for him.

Naruto sniffed and wiped at his cheek absently. "No I'm ok Obaasan. But thank you for your concern."

The grandmother didn't look convinced. "Come now young man. You don't expect me to believe a strapping young lad like yourself is ok if he's got tears rollin down his cheeks like its rainin? I may be old but I am not stupid."

The blond had to smile at the woman's pluckiness. "No of course not Obaasan," he replied with a bit more cheer then he felt. He stood and wiped away the last of his tears. "I was thinking of my wife who died a while back and..." Naruto's voice trailed off as he realized he had been about to let it all spill to someone he didn't even know. He clammed up and tried to cover it with a smile.

Luckily for him the old lady hadn't noticed his suddenly tight lips. She was nodding in understanding at what she had heard. "You poor boy. To loose a loved one at such a young age. I lost my husband a number of years ago...but for one so young?" She shook her grey topped head sadly. "A pity. A real pity." The grandmother motioned to the door she'd stepped out of. "Come, share your story with me my boy. We will share our lives with each other. I have freshly baked cookies to share as well."

Naruto smiled genuinely at the mention of cookies but still wasn't sure about the idea of sharing his troubles with another. But something made him consent anyway. Offering her his hand Naruto guided his new found friend back to her doorway. He was holding the door open and helping her through when he felt a chill run down his spine. Naruto cursed himself for letting his guard down so soon. He stepped in behind the old woman and moved to close the door when he heard a voice shout from behind him.

"Hold it right there demon! What do you think you're doing to that old woman?"

It was the shrine maiden. And she'd brought a friend.

A part of him sighed in relief. Something had come up. He wouldn't have to spill his guts to the old woman after all! Naruto turned to address the fiery young temple guardian but tripped over his own tongue when he saw who it actually was.

The grey haired old lady heard the shout and turned to see what the problem was. The young man's sputtering announced it was not something he had been prepared to deal with. Peeking from around Naruto's pack she saw two young girls dressed in tight body suits and extremely short skirts. Being a long time Tokyo resident she recognized the two instantly.

"Why if it isn't the Sailor Senshi! My what a surprise this is. But you're mistaken my dears. There's no demon here."

The two girls, one in red and one in blue, seemed a bit stunned at the old woman's statement but not for long. The one in red, who Naruto decided looked and sounded enough like the shrine maiden who'd been chasing him to indeed be her, took a step forward and pulled out a demon ward from seemingly no where.

"That man with you is the demon Ma'am. He set off several spirit walls at a near by shrine only a few moments ago. We've come to deal with him before he has a chance to harm anyone."

Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed. "If you would like to talk to me you can. Just let me get Obaasan back inside. She needs to get off her feet and rest."

"No really dear, I'm alright. The girls must be mistaken," the elderly grandmother said, sounding a little exacerbated.

The blond only shook his head. "No Obaasan, I can tell you're not steady on your feet. Please sit down. When I'm done talking to the Senshi I'll come back if I can and have some of your cookies and we can talk." He threw in some of his charm and got the old grandmother to smile.

"Alright dear. The cookies will be waiting for you. Just help me inside."

"Sure thing Obaasan." Naruto looked back over his shoulder at the girls. "Be right with you two."

The door clicked shut behind him leaving Mars and Mercury completely at a loss to what had just happened.

>>>> 

"You get a good read on him yet Mercury?" Mars asked after several tense moments of waiting for their prey to return.

Only the sound of furious typing answered Mar's question. Without looking away from the door the raven haired sailor warrior turned her head slightly. "Mercury?"

"Hold on, I'm trying to sort it all out."

Mars huffed and simply waited.

After about another minute of typing Mercury finally spoke up. When she did she sounded slightly confused which was something Mars was just not used to. "Well, um. According to my readings he's got incredible energy levels for a human, more then anyone should rightfully have. It blew the top off my scales when I did an in depth scan of his latent power levels. That could be caused by the faint residual traces of demonic energy that seem to be centered around his mid-section but I doubt it. Its more likely due to excessive training. If you noticed he had very well toned muscles." Mercury and Mars blushed but since neither was looking at the other they didn't notice. "I really doubt he's a demon but the trace of negative energy he has in his system is enough to be picked by most wards and spiritual sensors. He could have just had excessive contact with a youma or some other demon but I can't be sure. The fingerprint left by the negative energy seems to be decades old. Even older actually. The sword he carries with him has a much stronger negative energy aura but that's a whole other issue. The sword has nothing to do with his energy fingerprint."

Mar's frown deepened. "I don't like this. Too many things we don't have answers to. I can sense him and yet I can also feel another presence in the exact same spot, as if they were sharing the same space or something."

"Well," Mercury said as she looked at her data again. "There's no indication of him being possessed or having any link to an outside dark energy source. I would have been able to trace the connection and back track it to its source."

"Well whatever he is I'm gonna deal with him. He was trying to get into my shrine and I won't stand for that."

Mar's statement coincided the return of their target. The door opened and the blond man backed out as he yelled something back inside. "Now you stay right there Obaasan. I want you to stay off those legs and let my pressure point work do its thing." There was an answering voice but neither girl heard it well enough to understand.

He shut the door slowly and turned around to face the two scouts. He wasn't smiling which seemed almost a shame to Mercury. His face didn't look like it was built to be anything but happy.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked.

"I got two words for you buddy," Mars said, taking a preparatory step backward. "FIRE SOUL!"

A spiraling magical fireball sprung from Mar's fingers and engulfed the spot where the blond man stood.

Mercury hung her head. "Oh Mars..."

Mars looked triumphant. "Hah, that'll teach him to come near my shrine!" The door he'd come out of along with the surrounding wall was fire blackened and melted in some spots.

"If its not shrine maidens trying to kill me," a voice said from behind them. "Then its crazy magical girls. You appear to be both." Both the scouts gasped and turned towards the voice to find the blond man setting down his pack against an air vent on the other side of the roof.

"You! How? What?" Mars sputtered angrily. "That should have burnt you to a crisp. How'd you get away if your not a demon?"

Mercury tapped a few buttons on her computer. Her eyebrows steadily rose as she skimmed the results of her scan. "He used his own bodily energy combined with incredible speed to transport himself out of harms way. Amazing."

Mars looked flabbergasted. "You mean he used ki!"

"If that's what you choose to call it then yes," Mercury answered. Her visor appeared as more scan data spilled out of her computer. "I told you before he had massive amounts of energy. I didn't say it was magical."

"Woah, that's pretty cool. Wish I'd had one of those. It would have been really useful," Naruto said from Mercury's shoulder as he peered at the computer in her hands. The blue haired senshi's froze in shock, her eyes riveted on the spot where the man had just been, watching the small shockwave of dust spreading out as if a large invisible foot had stepped in the dirt.

Mars spun and swiped at his head with a loud yell. It was a clumsy attack and Naruto didn't even bother to block. He just stepped back and allowed the girl's momentum to throw her off balance. The raven haired girl stumbled but righted herself remarkably fast, faster then the average human but no where near the speeds Naruto was used to, and tried a one two combo aimed to get him away from her teammate.

He let himself be driven off by the attack but refused to block or retaliate. He jumped up and planted his feet firmly on the wall and stuck there, his chest to the sky and his body at a ninety degree angle from the wall.

"I thought you wanted to talk," he said as he looked at the pair of girls from his rather unnatural position. "But if you're only going to attack me then I don't see any reason to stick around. I'd much rather be eating cookies with Obaasan."

"ARGH!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the fuming black haired girl and then looked questioningly at the blue haired one. "Is she always this bad?" he asked with a smirk.

Mercury nodded hesitantly.

"MERCURY!"

Naruto's rolled his eyes as he was suddenly reminded of Ino yelling at Shikamaru. "Look red. I was just trying to talk to the shrine keeper. Yours isn't the first temple to refuse me entrance but at least most of them stopped chasing me when I left them alone."

Mars sprouted a corona of magical fire as her rage built. Not only had her shrine been attacked by a freak with demonic powers, now said freak was insulting her both verbally and by dodging her attacks. He would pay...

Naruto sighed as he realized his words weren't having any calming effect on the girl. "Fine, I hate to resort to this but you friend seems to be a better listener so I'm gonna talk to her instead. You should just chill out." He ran through a blindingly fast set of seals and drew up the necessary chakra.

"Ninpou: Tenrai Shinken Ori no Jutsu." (Heavenly Silence Cage Technique)

A pyramid of yellow energy sprang up around Mars and caged her off from the rest of the world. Her rage abated and she blinked as she realized her predicament. She tapped the wall experimentally. Then she tried yelling.

To Naruto and Mercury it was like watching a silent movie. Not a sound reached them. Mars was safely ensconed in a silent prison.

Mercury's eyes bugged out at the sight of her teammate pounding on the clear yellow walls and apparently screaming her lungs out.

"Ah, much better," Naruto said as he hopped down from the wall and held out his hands to show he meant no harm. "I'd just like to say a thing or two then I'll leave. I don't want a fight. Is that ok, Mercury was it?"

Naruto's words snapped the blue haired girl out of her daze. She took up a rather weak defensive posture but nodded in understanding. "Yes, I'm Sailor Mercury. My friend is Sailor Mars. And who are you?"

Naruto scratched at his chin and looked at Mars as her temper tantrum began abating somewhat. "Sorry about your friend there. I really don't think she would have let me get a word in edge wise. My name? Just call me Uzu for now. I really don't think it'll matter much since you'll never meet me again anyway."

Mercury blinked.

"Ok, lets get this done then. Tell your friend Mars there when she gets out that I'm not a demon. Never have been, never will be, so she can just drop it. I was just looking for some help at the shrine. That's all."

Mercury nodded.

"Ok. Number two. I'm not an enemy. I know you guys fight youma and stuff like that and I'm all for that. I helped a couple of your friends out last week in a fight next to the Tokyo Tower."

"That was you!" Mercury said in surprise. She'd heard the story from her friends and had done some scans of the tree where the strange blade had hit but had gleaned nothing important from either. To suddenly have some random person claiming to be their unidentified helper from a week previous was rather strange to say the least.

Mars had stopped entirely by now. She seemed to be focused on trying to read lips.

"Yes that was me and no you can't ask me how I did it."

Mercury looked a little disappointed. "Fine."

"Well, um. That's about it I guess. I just need to be left alone ok? I'm gonna go now. Your friend will be freed a couple minutes after I've left. Could you also apologize to the old lady for me. I don't think I should stick around after all this." Naruto waved his hand indicating the scorched wall and entrapped Mars.

The blue haired Senshi sighed. She would have loved to know more about the blond but she knew he'd been kind to them. Trying to force him would be like trying to convince a bomb not to explode. Its better just to save your breath and run.

"Ok. I'll make sure Mars and the rest of the Scouts understand your message," Mercury said in a resigned voice.

The blond produced a stunning smile that nearly knocked both girls off their feet. It was the kind of radiant smile that only children and the extremely happy could pull off. On someone as handsome as Naruto it made their hearts skip a beat and their cheeks flush.

"Thanks Mercury. Bye bye."

And with that Naruto vanished.

An incessant beeping brought Mercury's attention back to her computer.

"That's incredible," she whispered as she watched the bead of light that was the blond reappear nearly three blocks away and then take off at speeds even the Senshi would have trouble matching. Then a smile crept on to her lips as she noted the blinking red light at the bottom right of the screen next to the word 'recording'.

* * *

Remember people, all constructive reviews are accepted, even if they're not exactly positve. Flames are a no-no. Thanks again to all you loyal readers out there that keep bugging me whenever i'm online. You know who you are. 


	18. Enter the Wild Horse!

I'm sorry i've been negligent of my duties as a writer as of late. I should have several chapters out by now since i'm not currently in school and only just now landed a job. Various things have kept me away from my keyboard lately, or at least kept me away from penning stories. I have managed to sketch this partial chapter out over the past couple of weeks. I've just been having a hard time continuing it. My muse seems to have abandoned me. Now normally I don't like posting incompletes...but today I feel I need to. Otherwise you'd probably be waiting much longer. My whole life just took a nose dive. My girlfriend of three years, not to mention my main source of a social life, just pulled the rug out from under my feet by saying she didn't want to continue our relationship. I won't go into the whole story but suffice it to say most of my life has come to a halt as I try to figure out where to go from here. And being a melancholy doesn't help. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter...don't know when i'll have the heart to finish. Hopefully sooner rather then later.

* * *

After exploring Juuban Naruto thought he'd seen all the weirdness Tokyo had to offer. (It wasn't every town that could simply shrug at constant youma attacks and indecently clad super girls.) And for a time he found that to be true. The greater portion of Tokyo had never seen anything more weird then a string of giant lizard attacks several decades back. Most people outside of Juuban seemed to scoff at the idea of anything weirder then the occasional mecha attack or freak natural disaster. Sitting right on top of multiple fault lines as well as a nexus for the area's ley lines just tended to do that to folks.

Naruto spent nearly three weeks touring Tokyo's many miles via track and foot. After his roof top reevaluation he'd been moving just to move. Temples and finding a cure were simply no longer his two most motivating factors. So instead he opened himself to the wealth of knowledge and experiences that Tokyo had to offer and let himself go. He spent a week seeing the historic sites and ingesting as much historic fact as he could. Another week was spent checking out the night life and culture Tokyo seemed to thrive on. A third was used up looking at jobs and investigating universities in the area.

Some things turned out to be more interesting then others. He'd already known he loved to teach but finding out he was qualified, at least knowledge wise, to teach any number of classes at several different institutions was a bit of a surprise and had warranted looking into further.

Naruto had found he was strangely attracted to the incredibly varied night clubs, especially the primal beats and deafening noise of trance and techno clubs. Each time he'd stepped out onto the floor he'd been caught up in the rhythm and beat and hadn't stepped off until the club had thrown him out at the end of the night. Usually by that time he'd gotten the attention of the entire club with his unique dancing and incredible looks. Being able to dance like no normal, non-ninja trained, person could and still look good doing it made him quite the hit. Oddly enough Kyuubi seemed to enjoy his time out on the dance floor as well, or at least that was Naruto's general thought after the fox had expressed his desire to return multiple times. He didn't know if it was because of the music or the atmosphere but the fox liked it. Of course it could also have been that fact that he always seemed to end the night with about ten girls practically hanging off him in various states of dress or undress. But Naruto refused all comers and disappeared before any of the more persistent ones could voice an objection.

And then there was the food. Oh how he loved the food. Naruto was now sure he'd tried every variation on ramen ever made as well as every drink, every type of sushi, okonomiyaki, etc. As his pocket book was rather deep he was able to try whatever he wanted as often as he wanted. Everything from push cart to five star restaurant was tried and he left a trail of amazed owners and chefs in his wake.

But after three weeks Naruto had had enough. The big city tired him. Konoha had been the biggest city he'd spent any great time in. Tokyo was great but his rural roots had begun to protest about all the concrete and steel. His conscious had also begun nagging him to continue his search for an answer to the Kyuubi problem.

So Naruto had hopped a train north and left the big city behind him. He still wasn't sure what he was going to do now but he knew something would turn up. If that failed there were always his guide books. As the train rocked beneath him he wondered what Sapporo was like this time of year. From what he'd heard Sapporo was supposed to have the small town feel he'd long associated with Konoha. It was worth a shot.

>>>> 

The blond's eyes blinked open blearily as the train's PA announced their arrival at yet another station. A quick check of the map placed him somewhere in northern Tokyo, nearly on the edge of what was considered Tokyo proper. He would soon be among rolling hills and small hamlets, what he was used to. Back to nature.

He yawned and stretched and decided he'd had enough napping for the moment. He wanted to see the transition from city to countryside. He couldn't figure out what it would be like here. Every where else he knew there was a very definite line. One moment there were homes, the next there were trees. Perhaps here it was different.

But as the train slowed those thoughts were slowly pushed out of Naruto's mind as his sixth sense began to tingle. It was a feeling he associated with power and skill and it wasn't something he'd needed since he'd met the scouts several weeks back. But now it was alerting him to, something. And whatever it was seemed to be approaching.

Naruto sat up strait and began to take more notice of his surroundings. He could tell he was still in the suburbs. Houses and low buildings covered the landscape. There were more trees visible here and the occasional canal could be seen through breaks in the scenery. It looked like a pleasant enough place but the feelings he was getting said otherwise. Somewhere, someone was fighting. And Naruto wanted to know where.

>>>> 

Cologne was calmly drinking her late afternoon tea when the cup promptly split down the middle. At the same moment several crows dropped dead from the sky. All around the neighborhood she could hear people mutter curses or hear china breaking. A baby began to cry somewhere and several dogs started barking.

The old matriarch wasted no time. Her tea forgotten she closed up shop and leapt to the roof tops at maximum speed. Whatever this was she was sure Son-in-law would get involved somehow. For better or for worse the boy always seemed to attract trouble. That in mind the Chinese Amazon pushed herself to greater speeds. This time it was different.

>>>> 

Naruto tensed as they entered the train station, ready to spring out the moment the door opened. The fighting was near by. He'd seen an explosion and several clouds of dust just blocks from the train tracks. He could be there in moments.

The part of his mind that was still disconnected and free noticed his sudden accelerated heart rate, the rush of adrenaline as it hit his system, the reflexive check of weapons and other items. It was odd, he thought, as the train stopped and the doors opened. Here he was, a former hokage of the Hidden Leaf, over a hundred and fifty years old and more then a thousand miles from home, in a land where his everyday activities and thoughts were considered lunatic and unbelievable, about to rush to a fight he had no part of.

Dodging through the station crowd he wondered idly why he was doing this. Was it because he was bored? Because he'd lost his drive? Were his old passions for fights and cool new moves driving him again? His logical mind made a mental note to reconsider these questions when it had more time and more information. Fights were not the best of times to consider such things.

Bursting out the door Naruto located the area the fight had moved to since he'd first seen it and boosted chakra to his legs. He was down the street in a heartbeat and had reached the fight barely ten seconds later.

Landing on a two story roof he dropped his pack and surveyed the battle and its participants in an instant and gave a low whistle at what he found. A large empty lot and the adjacent street were now the scene of what Naruto decided was the craziest free for all he'd ever lain eyes on. Even Kiba's bar fights had seemed mild compared to this one. The lot, street, and neighboring walls and houses were cratered and holed in the extreme. Nothing Naruto had seen since Sound's final attack on Konoha had been this bad.

He could see where the fight had started some ways down the street. A large crater with what looked like a totaled bicycle took up a good portion of the intersection a block away. From there the street had procured a series of ever increasing craters and rubble piles leading up to the current disaster in the empty lot.

The combatants were another thing all together. He could identify three males, three females, one of indeterminate gender, and one of indeterminate species currently in the fight. Hidden in the shadows on the sidelines were two more. Judging by their lack of investment in the fight and their use of shadows they appeared to be ninja.

'First ninja I've seen since I left the Elementals. Wonder if I should introduce myself?' Naruto thought as he quickly devised a way to reach the two hidden warriors without being seen by either them or the more active fighters. 'I doubt they'll mind if I join em.'

>>>> 

Konatsu and Sasuke sat together in the shadows of several large crates and watched their wards as they fought. Neither was very pleased with the fact that the fight had developed to this stage. Usually such confrontations were rare. This was only the first since the failed wedding attempt five months ago. The two ninja had hoped that particular fiasco had settled some things between their more violent charges and their friends but it was not to be. So they sat and watched once again as the tornado of destruction that was known as the Nerima Wrecking Crew went at it again.

The two of them had met not long after Konatsu had moved in with the okonomiyaki chef Ukyo. Despite their jobs they'd quickly cultivated a friendship. Being the only two ninja willing to work in Nerima had made that a necessity. They traded information, techniques, and the occasional shoulder when their respective wards did something especially stupid or rash. Today was the first time they'd gotten together since that horrible day five months ago when the world of martial arts in Nermia came to a stand still.

"What a hit! Ukyo-sama is in top form today wouldn't you say Sasuke?"

"Indeed. I only wish my master was in nearly as good a form. But he is persistent, I'll give the master that," the smaller one answered.

"I wonder if Kuno-sama will ever realize who his beloved 'pigtailed girl' really is."

Sasuke sighed then snorted in disgust. "Doubtful. Both master and mistress are too thick headed and proud."

Konatsu giggled. "Better not let them hear you say that. I shudder to think of the repercussions if they did."

Sasuke really did shudder as the thought echoed through his mind, stirring up all the bad memories of his life with the Kuno siblings and then multiplying them by at least four. "Don't remind me."

The two ninjas lapsed back into silence as the fight continued. Several of the participants had fallen out by now, either that or been launched into LEO by a foot, fist, or mallet. Such was the case for one Tatewaki Kuno. The crazy brown haired kendoist rocketed skyward thanks to a combined mallet/spatula attack from two of the fighters. The two ninja watched him arch away and tried to judge where he would land.

"Looks like the North Canal to me," Konatsu said. "You better get going Sasuke. Your master will need your help getting home."

The smaller ninja nodded sagely and turned to leave, only to find a tall blond man blocking his path. Sasuke 'eeped' in surprise and back peddled away quickly. Konatsu heard his friend's surprised eep and whirled to confront whatever it was that had surprised his friend. To say he was alarmed at what he found was an understatement. Finding a nearly six foot tall blond man had been standing with them, two ninjas, without their knowledge was very disturbing.

The blond looked away from the fight for a quick moment and offered a dashing smile as an introduction. "Hi. Hope you don't mind me watchin with you. You chose a great vantage point." A stray bonbori smashed one of the wooden crates only a foot or two away from his face, showering him with bits of wood. "Though it's a bit too exposed for my taste," he said as he brushed wood chips out of his spiky hair.

The two ninja's gaped a bit.

"What? Not the talkative types?"

The pair blinked.

"Alright...Didn't you have someone to go chase shorty?" The blond said as he disappeared and then reappeared on one of the few roofs that had escaped being damaged.

>>>> 

Naruto sighed as he reappeared on the roof. The ninja, if they were ninja in the first place, hadn't been much help. Though they really had found a great spot to watch the fight from. Naruto looked down at the crates again and saw that the two had vanished without a trace. 'At least they know how to move like ninja. Didn't even sense them leaving.'

The fight was winding down now. The purple haired girl was lying unconscious in a crater ten feet wide, the robe wearing weapons user was wrapped around a street lamp like a twist tie, and the rest were in varying degrees of consciousness about the lot. Naruto was amazed that none of them were dead from the impacts and wounds they'd sustained. The pigtailed boy seemed especially beat up but this didn't seem to phase him much.

The blond had noticed quite early on that this young man was the center of the fight. The three girls, minus the short haired mallet wielding one, and the apparently unisex person had all proclaimed their love for him at least once during the battle. The two definite human males had proclaimed the opposite. They wanted the pigtailed martial artist dead. The small imp like creature had contented itself with latching onto the girls in inappropriate ways and tossing around small explosive devices while at the same time dodging every attack sent his way when he wasn't latched to a girl.

'What an odd bunch,' Naruto thought as the one with the mallet landed a devastating under jaw blow to the pigtailed boy with a cry of 'RANMA NO BAKA'. The boy sailed into the air, passing quite close to Naruto in the process. As he shot past Naruto got a clear view of the boy and noted that the hit hadn't even knocked him out. Instead the boy's arms were crossed in frustration and he seemed to be muttering something about an uncute tomboy under his breath.

The muttering stopped abruptly however in the split second that it took for the boy to pass Naruto. The boy seemed to jerk slightly and his eyes whipped around to lock on Naruto's The blond saw the recognition in the boy's steel blue eyes and knew his aura had been noticed and acknowledged. Naruto nodded slightly in return and continued to watch as the boy sailed on, passing over multiple blocks until finally coming to rest with a fountain of water in some park lake.

The other fighter's also followed the arc of the boy's flight and in doing so noticed Naruto's presence on the rooftop. When Naruto turned around to retrieve his pack he found the remaining four combatants all staring at him. The mallet girl eyed him dangerously, as if sizing him up for a fight. The girl with the ribbons and the insane laugh hit the other end of the spectrum, with hearts and stars springing into her eyes. The bishi spatula fighter just stared, a bit of drool forming at the corner of the fighter's mouth.

A chill swept up Naruto's spine and a feeling of being in way over his head washed over Naruto, making him shiver mentally. He knew the ribbon girl alone promised far more trouble then he wanted at the moment.

But it was the fourth fighter, the imp, that snagged his attention and prevented him from making an exit. The power rolling off the shrunken little creature was unlike anything Naruto had ever felt. It was like feeling Orochimaru, Itachi, and Jiriaya's power all mixed into one. It was a horrid, putrid, demented power that clawed at Naruto's senses like a crazed beast. Naruto knew the fox was grinning devilishly and savoring the feeling in his pen. The demon's voice trickled into his conscious mind and made the blond cringe.

"**Mmmmm...What power! Finally, a mortal I can relate too. I knew many demon's who would have been envious of this one." **

'I don't wanna know,' Naruto grunted mentally. The demon's stories were never pleasant and Naruto tried to avoid them if at all possible.

>>>> 

The imp in question, known by the name Happosai, was showing a similar interest in Naruto. The old martial arts master knew power when he saw it and this boy had it in spades. His ki signature was right up there with his own and the boy wasn't even powered up!

Happosai frowned. With an aura like that he should have felt him a mile away yet he'd managed to get within meters without Happosai getting even a whiff of him. Even then he'd needed to focus to find the boy's signature while staring right at him. The martial artist's mind reeled at the thought of a young one with such skill. 'If he can mask his presence that well I shudder to think of what he can do when he takes off his limiters,' he thought.

And then Happosai caught it; at the fringes of the young man's aura. The sky blue aura was ringed with a faint but distinct glow of malevolent orange ki. That made the old man blink. No one he'd ever met had two separate ki colors when at rest. The feat was possible to some extent when a fighter shifted rapidly from one emotion to another but in those cases the colors swirled and intermixed. The blond's aura showed no such intermixing. It was strange, almost as if the boy had some connection...

>>>> 

The silence that had fallen over the vacant lot was abruptly shattered by the arrival of large Ki blast. Naruto's eyes widened in shock as the stream of physical chakra headed directly at him. His danger sense screamed at him to something, anything really, to avoid the strange blast. The fact that such an attack was fairly unknown to Naruto held him up for a moment as a the portion of his mind that analyzed techniques went happily into full combat mode. If not for his ingrained training he would have still been analyzing the blast when it hit him. Luckily it didn't.

Naruto vaulted out of the way and completed a twist in mid air that set him back down right where he'd been on the roof once the attack had passed. He glared at the new arrival that had settled down next to the imp and realized that there were now two of the little creatures standing there. The new one stood atop a wooden cane easily double its height and had waves of silver hair rolling down its back. Not to mention its face looked even more hideous then the first one.

"Oi," Naruto said, "What's the big idea attackin me like that?"

"**Another powerful mortal. This must by your lucky day brat," **the fox said, his voice dripping with scorn.

Naruto rolled his mental eyes at the fox and ignored him.

* * *

Yeah, short I know. I don't own Naruto.


	19. A New Level of Weird

Argh, its been too long! I've let you rot your teeth on subpar fanfiction too long. Surely you won't be able to stand something as sweet and tasty as a new chapter of Bound to Eternity! lol, just kidding. Here you go folks. Remember, I don't own Naruto, Ranma, or Sailor Moon.

* * *

Cologne spared Happosai, her long time rival, a glance as she landed next to him. She noticed his amazement and slight unease and nodded mentally. Any martial artist worth their belt would have been at least a little scared of the power that the young man before them hid just under his skin. 

"Oi," the blond man said in a voice that was laced heavily with indignance, "What's the big idea attackin me like that?"

The Amazon matriarch didn't answer the question. Instead she began a whispered conversation with the shrunken man next to her.

"Happi, we need to get the young ones out of here. This one is far beyond their comprehension."

Happosai nodded slightly. "Agreed. Though I doubt they will leave willingly. Akane is not going to leave the fight now and the others will most likely follow suit and stay."

Cologne glanced quickly over at the three younger martial artists. She saw the smoldering anger and heated resolve in Akane's eyes and knew instantly that the girl would not leave willingly. She did a double take on the other two and mentally shook her head in disgust. They weren't going anywhere either, not with the looks they were giving the blond man.

"You're right. They're going to be a liability in the fight to come. We need son-in-law here to help protect them. Where has he gone?"

"Ask Akane. She's the one who threw him out of the fight," Happosai said, a smile of pride creeping onto his withered face. "But knowing Ranma he'll be back in the thick of it in no time."

The Amazon elder swore quietly in a mix of Chinese and Japanese that would have put a blush on even the most hardened bar going sailor. Cologne could have sworn she saw the blond man color slightly and look away from her a moment later. Could he hear what they were saying?

"Very well then. We will delay him until Ranma returns. Perhaps we can convince him to leave all together without resorting to violence."

Happosai chuckled, a decidedly evil sounding cackle. "I think you've already helped rule out that option my dear." Cologne ignored him.

>>>> 

Naruto was indeed listening in. The slightly chakra boost to his ears came as a natural response from years of spy work. He hadn't wanted to let on that he was eavesdropping but the female imp's sudden burst of foul language had nearly seared his ears off and he jerked away out of habit. It had been a long time since he'd heard language that bad.

He saw the suspicion flicker through the old bat's eyes and knew she'd noticed his flinch. Her comment a few moments later seemed to lead to the assumption that she had decided that he was not, in fact, listening in.

As the two spoke Naruto filtered out any information he could about his opponents. He matched up the name Akane with the mallet wielding girl and thus deduced that the boy she'd sent flying went by the name Ranma. The other two young warriors were as of yet un-named and the only clue to the imps' names was the term 'Happi' which seemed to apply to the male. Beyond that and the chakra levels he was getting off them he didn't have much to go on.

The two imps finally lapsed into silence. According to their conversation they were going to wait for their 'Ranma' to return to them before doing anything further unless he attacked or made any move beyond leaving.

Ignoring the small voice that told him to just leave and forget the whole messed up scene, Naruto set his pack down and simply sat down and crossed his legs to wait. He knew it wasn't exactly the most strategically smart thing to do but he did it anyway. He didn't know why but for some reason he wanted to stick around and see how this all turned out.

The startled looks he got from the two wrinkled warriors when he sat forced a chuckled from his chest and made his mouth quirk upward in amusement. Unfortunately his sense of mirth seemed to set them on edge even more and he quickly subdued the rising laughter.

But the damage was already done. Not only had it set the old prunes on edge but it had also had a definite effect on the younger audience. The bishi spatula fighter blink blinked, blushed, and drooled some more while the ribbon girl swooned dramatically. Akane however seemed to tense up even more and took the time to get a better grip on her mallet. She looked like she wanted to continue hitting people.

Naruto noted their reactions and mentally tagged the former two as possible fan girls(boy?). He'd seen them often enough in his childhood to recognize the signs. Sasuke's fan base had been bad enough from the outside but when Naruto had begun attracting girls during his growth spurt he'd gotten an intimate taste of what his raven haired teammate had gone through. Luckily for Naruto he'd found Hinata and therefore cut his fan group off before they'd gotten truly hardcore, for which he was extremely thankful.

Akane was another story. He'd known just by watching her fight that she relied on her anger to drive her much as that Ryoga kid had. He resolved to watch his step around her until he got back on his way. He really didn't want to get smacked by a mallet or worse. Sakura had been enough to last him multiple lifetimes.

Naruto shuddered mentally and heard a faint chuckle from deep within his mind. He shut the door on Kyuubi and concentrated on a minor chakra exercise to pass the time. With his palms upward in his lap he proceeded to created just enough chakra to light his right thumb with a faint blue glow. He then shunted the chakra from his thumb to his index finger and so on down the line. The idea was to get each finger lit individually without molding up more chakra. If a finger didn't light up it meant some of the chakra had been lost along the way. It was one of the best ways that Naruto knew of to practice precise chakra control in secret. He could do it just about anywhere without letting on that he was something special, a trait that had immediately earned favor in the world outside of the Elemental countries.

Naruto was on his third round of finger lighting when he felt a new powerful aura draw near. He dispersed the chakra into the roof he was sitting on and glanced down the street. There was no mistaking the aura signature. The person coming down the ruined street was the same one who'd been malleted past Naruto a few minutes ago. It was Ranma.

Both of the old bats caught the boy's signature at nearly the same moment. "Over here Son-in-law," said the one on the cane. Naruto caught the slight darkening of the three younger martial artists auras at the old crones words. The blond took note of that as well. There was definitely something odd going on here.

Naruto's ponderings came to an abrupt halt when the target of everyone's attention sauntered back into the empty lot. The blond blinked and took a better look at the newly arrived individual. This was NOT the boy who'd gone flying past him. How could it be? Shorter, different hair, more...curvy. Naruto noted the increased bust in particular. Yep, definitely a girl. 'But she has the same chakra signature as the boy,' he thought as the girl, in turn, studied him. 'Its not henge, its too complete for it to be henge.'

Naruto stood abruptly and jumped to the ground leaving his pack on the roof. Ignoring the obvious unease of the others he took several long but careful steps forward until he was only a dozen or so paces from the busty redhead. He was easily a head and a half taller then the girl but Naruto had learned the hard way to never assume things based on peoples appearances. That held true for the this one in particular. She held immense power, that was obvious. What Naruto was impressed with was the fact that it was so well restrained. This one was a warrior of high caliber. Such control did not come without extensive training.

The blond shook his head and refocused on the problem at hand. How did a girl suddenly have the same chakra signature as the boy he'd seen earlier? Naruto opened his mouth to ask but the redhead, apparently knowing what he was about to ask, spoke first. "It's a curse ok? I'm really a guy." It sounded like a line she had to repeat often.

Naruto shut his mouth with a click and looked at the others. They didn't seem to find this situation out of the ordinary apparently. The only one that was reacting in any way was the crazy girl with the ribbon who was currently being restrained by the imp on the stick, who looked like she wanted to kill the leotard wearing girl. Their looks leant power to the girl's words. If they were unfazed by what she said then it was probably true.

"Gomen," Naruto said as he bowed slightly, "I didn't know such a thing was possible." He glanced downward but stopped before his gaze reached his stomach. "Curses yes, but not that. It was rude to stare."

That seemed to lighten the mood a bit. The girl that was apparently Ranma smiled slightly. "Ah, its alright. You didn't know." A cocky grin replaced the smile and the girl seemed to grow. "Saotome Ranma," she said, pointing at her chest with her thumb. "Of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

Naruto straightened, a grin of his own appearing to match Ranma's. "Uzumaki Naruto. Pleasure to meet you." A loud 'thwap' made their heads swivel just in time to see the ribbon girl laid out by a strike from the old imp's cane. Girl Ranma muttered something about crazy Kunos and looked away.

Once she was sure her charge was down the old imp pogoed over to girl Ranma with the other imp in tow. The other two remaining youngsters came over as well. At this close range Naruto was forced to admit that the imps were, in fact, human. He shuddered to think how they'd gotten so small and deformed looking. The bishi fighter also appeared to be, on closer inspection, simply a girl dressed as a boy.

The four new arrivals appraised Naruto up close. The old shriveled crone spoke first, an edge of hostility quite evident in her voice. "If I may ask, Uzumaki-kun, why are you here?"

The blond glanced at her then looked over at Ranma. "I felt your fight as I passed on the train. I was interested to see what was happening so I came and took a look."

The wrinkled male glared at him shrewdly. "It's nearly half a mile from here to the train station. To be able to feel such a low level fight from that distance you must be highly skilled in sensing and tracking."

"So you're not here to challenge Ranchan or to kidnap somone?" asked the spatula girl with a healthy dose of scepticism lacing her voice. Naruto cocked an eyebrow and shook his head slowly. "Why? Does that kind of thing happen very often here?"

Every head in the group nodded. Naruto sweat dropped.

"Ok."

Girl Ranma rolled her eyes. "Believe me, it's happened more often then I can count."

Further conversation was interrupted by the combined growling of two stomachs. Naruto and Ranma looked at each other and chuckled. The old crone rolled her eyes and motioned down the street in another direction. "Come back to the restaurant Son-in-law, we can continue the conversation there."

Ranma smiled and took a step in that direction then paused. "No poisons or love potions this time Cologne." She said in a suddenly stern voice. It was not a question. The old bat didn't even bother looking at Ranma. "No, not today Son-in-law."

"Good," she said, her smile suddenly back in place. "I hope you like ramen. The old bat makes the best ramen in town."

Naruto chose to ignore the poisons comment and beamed, for a moment reverting back to his younger days, as a cry of 'RAMEN' rent the air.

"Would you carry Shampoo back Son-in-law?" asked Cologne.

"Sure."

Two warning growls made him rethink his choice in a hurry. "Uh, um...maybe not. I'll take Mousse."

"Humpf, pervert, see if I care," muttered Akane as she stalked off in the opposite direction. Both Ranma and Naruto watched her go. Once she was out of sight Naruto spoke up. "Who or what is Shampoo?" In answer Ranma pointed to the crater that contained the purple haired girl.

"I'll carry her then I suppose," Naruto said as he moved towards the fallen girl but was blocked by the sudden appearance of Cologne. "No, you have a pack to carry Uzumaki-kun. I would not have you burdened by my great granddaughter."

Naruto would have said something about it being no problem but he sensed the danger and wariness in the old woman's eyes and thought better of it. He backed off and went to retrieve his pack without a backwards glance. When he'd retrieved it Shampoo was being placed on the spatula girl's back. The robed weapons user who Naruto assumed was Mousse was already slung over girl Ranma's shoulders.

>>>> 

The party departed shortly there after and arrived a few minutes later at a small two story building with the name 'Cat Café' posted above its door. Once inside the still unconscious passengers were dropped off upstairs while the rest, minus Cologne, seated themselves at the largest table available. Conversation remained on the slim side until Cologne came back loaded down with several bowls of steaming ramen. Once the bowls were distributed the elder pogoed back into the kitchen and returned a moment later with hot water kettle which she handed to Ranma.

"This is how my curse works," she explained as she took the steaming kettle. "When I get splashed with cold water I turn into a girl." She doused her head with some of the kettle's contents. "Hot water changes me back to a guy." Ranma, now filling out his cloths in all the right ways and obviously male, placed the kettle off to the side and proceeded to dig into his noodles at a terrific rate. "Pretty weird neh?" He asked around a mouthful of ramen.

Naruto nodded, obviously impressed with the display. A certain perverted Sannin popped to mind. 'Boy what Jiriaya wouldn't have given for a curse like that.' He glanced at the little bald runt across the table from him. The way he'd been bouncing from girl to girl during the fight made it quite obvious that Ranma had his own pervert problems.

One excellent bowl of ramen later Naruto was again made the center of attention. Ranma was the first to begin the questioning. "So what do you practice Naruto?" he asked, leaning forward with interest.

The blond looked around the table and saw that everyone's eyes were riveted on him. 'No way out of this one, not now at least.' "Mostly tai-jutsu with some other stuff thrown in," he answered. "Mostly hard styles with some soft thrown in for variety." Heads nodded around the table. Ranma was smiling.

"Sounds like you'd be a good match up. We'll spar sometime."

"Sure, love to."

"You don't look Japanese Uzumaki-san," said the spatula wielding girl who'd been introduced as Kuonji Ukyo. "Yet you speak it fluently. Where are you from exactly?"

Naruto smiled and quickly visualized a map of Japan. After wandering Tokyo for several weeks he knew he stuck out like a sore thumb yet he hadn't come up with a story to cover himself. "Heheheh, only a quarter Japanese actually. I was born an orphan in Okinawa."

"Oh, sorry."

The blond sighed mentally. 'Good thing she bought it.' "Sok, I get asked that question a lot." Ranma and Ukyo nodded understandingly but the two elders still looked suspicious.

They exchanged glances and Naruto noticed the almost imperceptible nod that passed between the two of them. As one they turned back to him. The imp known as Happosai voiced a question. "Last I checked there were no tai-jutsu schools in Okinawa. Where did you learn?"

Naruto's mind raced. These two obviously were looking for something more. They had the advantage and Naruto didn't like it. He had to get back on the offensive. "Oh I didn't learn it there," he said as he began playing with his chopsticks. "I got some basic instruction while on Kyushu. After that I was self taught."

Ranma brightened. "So you traveled a lot then? Sounds like pop and me. When did you start traveling?"

Naruto spat out a random number. "Eight years ago."

"How old are you now?"

Naruto lied through his teeth. "Nineteen."

"So you were lived on Okinawa till you were eleven?" asked Happosai.

The blond nodded.

Another knowing glance between the two elders was shared. Cologne shifted and took over where Happosai left off. "Have you been outside of Japan recently?"

Naruto paused, wondering what they were after. "Yes," he said cautiously. "I was in Singapore recently."

"When did you arrive back in Japan?"

Now he was getting worried. "About five weeks ago."

That seemed to answer something because Cologne settled back and didn't speak again for a while. After that the conversation slowly died off. When customers began appearing at the door for the afternoon rush Naruto judged it a good time to pull out. He stood and thanked Cologne for the excellent ramen, dropping twenty dollars American at his spot at the table in the process. Ukyo's eyes widened in surprise at the large donation for what she assumed was a free meal but chose to say nothing. Cologne was equally surprised but she hid her surprise by busying herself with the clean up. Ranma jumped up to help and in no time the table was clean and the dishes washed.

Ranma and Ukyo walked Naruto out the door followed closely by Happosai. The old letch gave Naruto one last look before taking off onto the roof tops.

"Freak," Ranma muttered as he glared at the small retreating form.

"Do you have some place to stay tonight Naruto-san?" Ukyo asked with a note of hope in her voice.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but Ranma beat him to it. "You can come stay at the Tendo's tonight. I'm sure Mr Tendo won't mind, and Kasumi cooks the best food."

Naruto nodded and smiled at Ukyo. "Thanks for the offer Kuonji-san but I'll go with Ranma-kun. I'll probably head off tomorrow morning so I can catch the train north."

Ukyo smiled weakly. "Ok then, don't leave without saying goodbye though." She turned her attention to Ranma. "Bye Ranma honey."

Ranma waved and turned away, gesturing for Naruto to follow. "Gotta admit its rather nice to find someone new who isn't out for my blood, who isn't tryin to marry me, or's not after Akane. I could get used to this."

The blond chuckled lightly. "Sounds like you've got quite the life here."

"You don't know the half of it."

They walked on in silence for a while, allowing the blond to better study his surroundings. He felt a pang of homesickness wash over him. In a lot of ways Nerima felt and looked like Konoha. Both had that special touch of weirdness to them that made life exciting. That corner there with the small diner, the way the trees along that particular walk looked, the layout of this neighborhood. It all conjured up images of Konoha. Flashes of everyday life in the streets of his home town, _his_ town.

Naruto was so lost in thought and recollection that he missed Ranma's question. He blinked away his memories and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hehehe, sorry. Got lost in thought there."

The pigtailed boy nodded and looked away down the street. "Can I ask you something?"

The blond smiled. "You just did, but I'll let you ask another one."

Ranma nodded again, acknowledging the little joke. "It's probably none of my business," he said, sending a little look at his companion. "But I'd like ta know why you didn't tell the whole truth back there."

Naruto missed a step and nearly stumbled, but recovered and continued on like nothing had happened. He stole a glance at Ranma and found him staring calmly back. He sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Most of my life is too weird to believe, even by your standards I think. My life...it's...," he searched for an appropriate word or phrase. "...out of this world you could say."

Ranma smiled. "Try me."

Naruto sighed again and dredged up some of the weirder occurrences in his life. "Ever fought a demon?"

"How bout a demi-god? Those count?"

"Guess so. Ok...Do you know someone over 150 years old?"

"You've met two of them. Both Happosai and Elder Cologne are over 300 years old."

"Oh. Hmm." 'Well that answers that question.' Naruto thought about it some more. "Competed in deadly tournaments?"

"On a couple occasions, yeah."

"Killed someone?"

Ranma grimaced and didn't answer which was enough for Naruto. "Ok so maybe you'd believe me if I told you about my life. How many other people here could say the same?"

"Those two old bats you met earlier would probably believe you if you could back it up. Others might. This town sees a lot of weird stuff, mostly cause of me," Ranma answered with the hint of a grin teasing his lips.

"We'll have to compare notes some time. Give each other pointers."

"After a spar and some dinner?"

Naruto grinned. "Deal."

"Good. We're here." Ranma promptly leapt over a wall and disappeared. Naruto's grin got bigger as he followed the pigtailed boy over.

The yard he landed in was a nice one. It came complete with koi pond and meditative garden. The house was one of the larger one's he'd seen so far in town and attached was a rather worn and much patched dojo. A young woman, several years older then Ranma, was busy sweeping the large porch that overlooked the yard. She looked up and smiled. "Hello Ranma, who's your friend?"

"Hiya Kasumi. This is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto this is Tendo Kasumi. She's the oldest of the three Tendos. Akane's sister."

Naruto couldn't help but like the beautiful smiling creature in front of him. Such a peaceful aura. After Akane's crass behavior Kasumi was a glimpse of domestic heaven. He bowed graciously to her and brought out his best Hokage manners for her. "A pleasure to meet you Tendo-san. It's an honor to visit such a fine house as yours."

Kasumi's smile brightened. "Oh my. You're too kind Uzumaki-kun. You are most welcome. Come in, would you like some tea?"

"I don't want to intrude. Certainly you have better things to do then offer tea to one such as me."

The girl was obviously not used to having such polite house guests. She blinked but responded as was custom. "Oh its no trouble at all. In fact I insist. Please come in and make yourself at home."

Naruto bowed again. "Many thanks Tendo-san."

She bowed back. "Would you like anything else Uzumaki-kun, Ranma?"

Naruto shook his head politely. "Tea will be fine."

"I'm good Kasumi, tea's fine."

Kasumi bowed again and departed for the kitchen as Ranma showed the blond into the dinning room. He whistled quietly when they were seated. "I haven't seen Kasumi in full politeness mode since...well...for a long time I guess. You really know how ta turn it on when you need to."

Naruto grinned. "I learned the hard way believe me."

Kasumi returned a moment later with the tea and set a cup before both of them before kneeling and joining them with her own cup.

"Excellent tea Tendo-san. Most refreshing."

Kasumi turned up the juice on her smile and bowed slightly. "Thank you Uzumaki-kun, please, call me Kasumi."

"Only if you call me Naruto."

"Alright Naruto-kun."

"Alright Kasumi."

"Where's pop and Mr Tendo?" Ranma asked.

Kasumi shifted her attention from Naruto to Ranma. "I believe they were going to a town meeting Ranma. They should be back before dinner."

"Probably hitting the bars," Ranma said under his breath. Naruto fought down the urge to snort.

"More tea Naruto-kun?"

"Thank you Kasumi, that would be wonderful."

But before the young woman could pour a second cup Akane came thundering into the room at full tilt. The wonderfully polite mood was utterly shattered as the youngest of the three Tendo daughters brought forth her mallet with a mind jarring battle cry.

"STOP HITTING ON MY SISTER YOU PERVERT!"

The mallet came down and Naruto's fist went up. There was a crack like a gun shot. A moment later a mallet head shot through the sliding screen door and impacted in the yard's far wall. But it wasn't Naruto's fist that knocked it there. Ranma stood, fist extended and smoking slightly, before Akane.

Both Ranma and Akane opened their mouths to yell at each other but a new voice interrupted their thoughts.

"Now where the hell am I?"

Naruto blinked. 'No way, it couldn't be.'

"Oh why if it isn't Ryoga-kun," Kasumi said happily.

The voice spoke again, this time closer. "Kasumi? What are you doing in Sapporo?"

Ryoga walked in and froze.

"Ryoga?"

"Akane?"

"Pig Boy?"

"Ranma?"

"Yo."

"YOU!"

"Oh my."

* * *

Hope you liked. You can find me on Gaiaonline now as well as here. I go by the name Makanikoa there. Means 'wind warrior' in hawaiian. 


	20. Dealing with Confrontation

Hey everyone. Sorry bout the wait. Thanksgiving threw off my work scheduel. I'm the only person over 18 in my position at work which means that i'm the only one who can do closing duties which occur after 10pm. And because of the day after thanksgiving sales i've been on duty more often then I'd origionally been told I would be. (I work at target) Anyway, here's the next chapter. And to help those of you out who didn't understand the ending to the last chapter i'll write it out.

Akane says: "Ryoga?"

Ryoga says: "Akane?"

Ranma says: "Pig Boy?"

Ryoga says: "Ranma?"

Naruto says: "Yo."

Ryoga says: "YOU!"

Kasumi says: "Oh my."

There, hope that helped. And to the one person who asked about my hawaiian name for gaiaonline, no i'm not hawaiian though I did live in Hawaii for 10 years. Basically grew up there.

* * *

"Oh my. Do you know Uzumaki-kun, Ryoga kun?" Kasumi asked politely.

When no one answered for several seconds Naruto chose to speak up. Without breaking eye contact with the bandana wearing boy Naruto mumbled a response. "We've met before Kasumi-san. Though I'm sure he wishes we hadn't."

That seemed to jolt Ryoga out of his shock. The boy growled and clenched his fists. "You bastard. I TRUSTED YOU!" His hand snapped up to his forehead and pulled off not one but four bandanas and hurtled them at the still seated Naruto.

The bandanas buzz sawed through the table and tore through the blond man as he tried to dodge. Unfortunately he was still seated and didn't have the time to get out of the way properly. Ryoga watched in fascination as the blond's right arm came off at the shoulder and two deep gashes appeared on his torso. Fountains of blood shot up into the air and spattered the room and its occupants. The dying blond rocked backwards and fell choking to the floor.

For several seconds afterward the only sounds to be heard were the clap of the bamboo water feature, the drip drip of blood, and the faint gurgling sound emanating from Naruto's throat. Ryoga had just enough time to realize the enormity of what he'd just done, just enough time for his hands to begin to quiver. Then, quite suddenly, the blood vanished. Then so did Naruto.

In his place lay a dismembered training dummy, the kind Akane liked to use when Ranma wasn't around to beat up. It's right arm stump was neatly shorn off and two huge cuts had opened up its side from front to back. Ryoga's horrified expression degenerated into one of confusion.

"A...a training...dummy?" He sputtered.

A flying kick to the back was the answer Ryoga received in return. The fanged martial artist flew across the yard and impacted head first into the wall. Naruto landed perfectly on the porch just outside the dining room. He huffed loudly as he surveyed his handy work then turned back to the remaining occupants of the dining room.

Just in time, in fact, to watch as Akane stomped up to him and stuck her face in his. "Quit pickin on poor Ryoga you pervert. What'd he ever do to you?"

Naruto was at a loss for words. 'Did she not catch the fact that he attacked me?' He tried to speak but nothing came. Akane saw this and smirked triumphantly. "I thought so. Now get out of my house before I kick you out pervert."

His jaw tightened. Naruto had always had a problem with insults and despite all his years he still hadn't learned to ignore them completely. He could take a healthy dose without batting so much as an eyelash. Normally Akane's remarks wouldn't have done much to phase him. He knew what perverts were like and he knew for sure that he was NOT a pervert but something about this girl just rubbed him the wrong way, brought his anger to the surface faster then anyone had in a long time. In fact, now that he thought about it, he hadn't been this easily angered since Sasuke's time.

Realizing just where he was going with those thoughts Naruto clamped down on the retort he had been about to offer and instead tried for a cool detachment. "I was not invited into the house by you. And as you're the youngest, not the oldest, I don't really think you have any right to throw me out. That right is reserved for your oldest sister, who did the inviting, and your parents. If they wish me out then I will go, otherwise I intend to stay and attempt to salvage the conversation we were having over tea."

Instead of backing down the girl seemed to pop a gasket. Her face went completely red and a visible aura of red chakra sprang up around her. A boken appeared in her hands from out of nowhere and she swung. "I WON'T LET YOU NEAR MY SISTER YOU PERVERT! DIE!"

Even Ranma had trouble following what happened next. There wasn't even a blur to announce that movement had taken place. One moment Akane was bringing down her wooden sword down atop Naruto's head, the older boy not having moved an inch in defense. The next moment Akane was planted face first into the wood flooring, both arms pinned behind her back, and a knife pricking at her neck. The boken lay in two neat pieces near the discarded training dummy. Naruto knelt over her, a blank expression on his face. He pressed down with his left arm, making the girl wince in pain as her arms were made to bend in unnatural ways.

Surprisingly Ranma reacted fairly well to the sudden danger to his fiancé. Dealing with Saffron had managed to knock a bit of sense into the martial artist. Heedlessly jumping to attack wasn't always the answer he'd found. Caution and calculation were often times better when dealing with a largely unknown opponent or with an odd situation. That didn't make him any less protective however.

The first Naruto knew of Ranma's distaste for the situation was when frost began to rapidly form on his kunai. His breath began to come in clouds of mist as the temperature dropped markedly in the room. The blond blinked in surprise but did not relent his pressure on the girl's arm as he turned his attention to the person responsible for the localized cold snap.

Ranma was glaring at him from across the room. Tendrils of cold seeped from his body to scuttle across the floor, leaving frost in their wake. Naruto could see the faintest of auras dancing around the boy's body as he took up a loose offensive stance. All of this seemed oddly similar to a some of the ninjutsu techniques he'd seen back during his brief time in Hidden Mist village. A quick inspection of the room showed that it was not just a localized effect. The cold was seeping out into the hallway and kitchen but was being held at bay by a sunspot on the porch. Naruto suppressed the urge to shiver. Kasumi and Akane weren't as adept at repelling the cold. They had begun to shiver quite quickly. Kasumi's teeth were even beginning to chatter in the chill air.

"Let Akane go." Ranma said, punctuating each word with a pop from his hands as he prepared to defend his fiancé. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, threatens Akane with a weapon and gets away with it. Even if she does kinda deserve it I won't let it pass."

By now the cold was becoming a problem even for Naruto. The girls were much worse off. Kasumi was practically shaking like a leaf but she had yet to say anything about it.

'Ok, no weapon then. I can pin her without it.' Naruto thought. 'If it gets him to stop with the cold stuff I'm game.' He shrugged and took the kunai away from Akane's throat. "Fine by me, no weapons. Doesn't mean I won't deal with her hot head if she attacks me again." The blond paused for a moment and shifted his grip on the kunai. "Don't bother Ryoga. I know you're about to attack."

Ryoga, newly coated in brick dust and dirt, was indeed prepping himself for round two. His rage was almost off the charts now. Not only had the blond killed pirates and left Ryoga stumbling around a hospital, now he was threatening his one true love. Sure the other boy's techniques were good, Ryoga still didn't get the whole death and rebirth thing that he'd just witnessed, but that wouldn't matter once they really got going. Nothing short of Ranma's best could phase Ryoga so this guy wouldn't have a chance.

"You DARE threaten Akane in front of me? I'll tear you apart!" Ryoga yelled as he hoisted his umbrella.

Naruto sighed. Obviously thickheadedness was a staple of the fighters around here. He mentally gauged where the boy was and smiled. With a blur of motion he let his kunai go.

Ryoga felt more then saw the kunai as it passed. The thud of the projectile hitting what remained of the wall behind him was also noticeable. "I said stand down fang boy," Naruto said, his attention still fixed mostly on Ranma and Akane.

The boy chuckled darkly. "Not a chance. Besides, you missed."

Naruto finally turned to look at Ryoga, his lips curving upwards in a mocking smirk that was anything but disappointed or threatened. "Why do you think I missed?"

Ryoga wasn't exactly sure how to take a remark like that so he went for the obvious answer. He sneered and pointed back towards the knife imbedded in the wall. "Isn't it obvious. It's there and I'm here. You missed."

The smirk moved upwards into the blond's sky blue eyes. 'This idiot wouldn't notice if I took his eyeballs. Damn, what a thick headed moron. Even Kiba was more observant then this guy.' Naruto glanced back at Ranma to see if he'd noticed. His smile grew wider at what he saw. If the position of Ranma's hands were any indicator then he definitely knew. The pigtailed boy noticed the blond's smirk and saw the true amusement twinkling in his eyes. Ranma's lips twitched upwards slightly in response, his animosity largely forgotten. Even now the room was regaining its original warmth.

Naruto returned his gaze to the umbrella wielding boy. "Who says I was aiming for your body?"

Ryoga blinked. "Huh?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'What an intelligent response. Give the boy a rice cake. He just made dunce of the year.' He pointed a finger at Ryoga's legs and raised an eyebrow.

Ryoga looked down at his pants. Nothing seemed out of place. There were no cuts in the fabric, no marking indicating the weapon's passage. Though it was rather chilly all of a sudden.

The boy's eyes widened in realization. His hands flew to his crotch to confirm. Unfortunately for him he was still holding his umbrella, having forgotten he was holding it in his rush to find the answer to his new ventilation problem.

Naruto and Ranma grimaced in sympathy as the weighty weapon connected. One high pitched 'URK' later Ryoga was sprawled among the rubble of the wall once more.

Kasumi's cheeks colored nicely and an almost inaudible 'Oh my.' made it out from the hand covering her mouth. Akane didn't see it as her head was still planted in the floor, but she did manage to catch a glimpse Ranma's reaction and managed to deduce what had happened.

When asked later she would say that she'd groaned not for Ryoga's sake but for her own due to the fact that her arms were still pinned uncomfortably.

Happy to have one threat taken care of Naruto turned back to the other two. Ranma was still grimacing and looking out at the other boy sprawled in the yard so he turned his attention to the girl beneath him. "So, where were we...? Oh yeah, you attacked me and I pinned you. You gonna attack me again if I let you up?" He asked.

Akane growled and didn't say anything.

"Is she always this difficult and angry?" he asked Ranma who'd finally brought his attention back to his fiance's predicament. He shrugged.

"She can be a real tomboy sometimes. I don't mind it when she hits me but hitting a guest isn't normal, even for her."

Naruto looked shocked. "You mean she hits you? You're fast, why don't you dodge?"

Ranma shrugged again. "She's my fiancé I guess."

Akane growled and forced out what sounded like 'Ranma'. Naruto put more pressure on her arms and made her shut up.

About a dozen responses leapt to the blond's mouth, most of them focusing on what an idiot the pigtailed boy had to be to let himself be hit, but a flood of memories stayed his tongue and made he pause to reconsider. His early infatuation with Sakura had much the same dynamic as Ranma and Akane's relationship. Naruto had gotten hit constantly by his pink haired teammate, usually after he'd asked for a date or done something stupid or slightly perverted. At that point he didn't have the ability to avoid such blows but he would have loved to dodge them if he'd been able to, especially after she'd been trained by Tsunade.

Ranma on the other hand was obviously able to dodge the girl's attacks yet he chose not to. He'd shown no love for the girl outside of a highly developed need to protect her and she certainly hadn't shown any love for him. (Unless fighting was her way of showing her affection in which case Naruto never wanted to get on this girl's good side.) It was all very confusing and was beginning to make his head hurt.

Both Ranma and Akane heard the blond mutter something along the line of 'it must be love' before he returned his focus to the problem at hand.

"Ok...anyway. The only thing that's keeping your face in the floor is your hot head Tendo-san. If you promise not to attack me I'll let you up. So? You gonna agree or not?" He paused to let her stew over his words for a few moments then added some more. "I'll warn you now, I don't take attacks lightly, especially unprovoked attacks. In my line of work it's kill or be killed. Just cause you're a kid doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."

Naruto looked at Ranma. "I will defend myself. People like me have a tendency to kill first and ask questions later if someone's stupid enough to attack first." Ranma would have argued the point but something about the blond's eyes stole the words right out of his mouth. There was tempered steel beneath the bright sky blue gaze. They were battle hardened. They had seen death and dealt it without remorse. It was a sobering experience for Ranma. The only people with eyes remotely similar were Herb and Saffron. Cologne and Happosai were close seconds but only in rare instances.

"So, what's it gonna be Tendo-san?"

"Fine."

Naruto leaned in closer. "What was that?" He'd heard her just fine, he just wanted to make sure everyone else heard her.

"I said fine."

"Alright," Naruto responded happily. He released her arms and stood up. He backed up a step or two to give her room to stand herself.

Akane stood shakily and rolled her arms to make sure nothing was broken. Once she was sure everything was where it was supposed to be she spared Ranma a nasty glare and then leveled her gaze at Naruto. "I'm not afraid of you. I'm ten times better then a pervert and cheater like you." With that she stomped out of the room and up the stairs A door slamming shut a few moments later let everyone know she'd retreated to her room.

Naruto was left staring in amazed silence at the spot she'd just vacated. 'WTF is wrong with that girl?' he wondered. 'Amazing, simply amazing.' He looked at Ranma again to find the boy staring sadly at the stairs. 'It must be love. Either that or insanity.'

Kasumi broke the silence by standing and brushing off her apron. "I'm terribly sorry about all of this. But don't think to badly of Akane. She's really a sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac sometimes. Would you like some more tea?

Naruto's mouth opened and closed a couple times as he tried to piece together exactly what the brunette had said. Finally he opted for a smile. "Yes I'd love some more tea Kasumi-san"

The oldest Tendo daughter smiled warmly. She quickly gathered up the tea set that had been forgotten during the fight and returned to the kitchen yet again leaving the two boys by themselves. Naruto stared dumbly at the broken table for a few moments before meeting Ranma's gaze.

"Er, sorry bout the table but I needed a distraction so I could set up a knock out kick for your friend out there."

Ranma blinked then looked at the table, then Ryoga, then back at Naruto. He shrugged. "It's ok. We're always having tables or walls or roofs or...well. Hmm." Ranma paused to think. "I guess we're always having to replace stuff around here. Comes with the territory I guess."

Naruto sighed. This place was just down right weird.

Ranma plopped down on a cushion. "So, what exactly did you do to Ryoga anyway? Before you kicked him into the wall I mean."

Naruto smiled and sat down as well. "A combination of Kawarimi no Jutsu and a specialized Genjutsu," he said with a hint of pride.

Ranma looked lost. "Kawa-what? Replacement? Oh, you mean the training dummy. Where'd you get that anyway?"

"Side of the house," Naruto said simply. "I saw them on the way in."

Ranma looked flabbergasted. "So...wait. You mean to tell me you went out and got a training dummy and brought it back inside to replace yourself? All before Ryoga's bandanas hit?"

Naruto nodded.

"Woah. Wait. How did you make it look like you?"

"That's part of the technique," Naruto explain. "You dodge an incoming attack by grabbing something else and replacing yourself with it. I guess part of it is also a Henge no jutsu. A transformation technique. Usually I just use logs but I've found the more human the item looks the better the technique."

Ranma slurped up a drool vine. Just the thought of such a technique caused him to drool. He couldn't even count the number of useful applications such a technique could be used for. Avoiding school and fiances were the two at the top of the list. Putting such ideas aside for the moment Ranma continued his inquiry.

"So what about the second part? You said something about illusion techniques."

Naruto nodded. "Usually kawarimi will simulate you getting hurt for a few moments before the technique is dispelled. Depending on what you want you can make it look clean or incredibly gruesome. I used a minor illusion to make it look worse for Ryoga. What did you see?"

Ranma scratched his head a bit. "Well I saw your right arm come off as well as a couple of huge chunks out of your side."

Naruto smiled. "Anything else?"

Ranma shook his head for a moment then stopped as something occurred to him. "There was no blood. It was totally clean."

"For the three of you, yes it was. For Ryoga I made it a bit worse."

"How much worse?" Ranma asked carefully.

Naruto's smile lessened somewhat. "Ask him some time. Let's just say he won't forget it."

They were silent for a moment as Ranma contemplated what Naruto had just said. After several long moments he spoke. "Would you show me?" He asked.

Naruto shook his head. "You don't want to see what he saw."

Ranma waved his hands in denial. "No no, the technique. Could you show me the technique?"

"Oh." Naruto's smile returned. He'd never completely lost his love for showing off. "Sure. Stand up." They both stood and faced one another. "Ok, I want you to throw your best punch at me. Don't worry about hurting me. Just punch."

Ranma responded with a smile and a quick jab with his right fist. His fist connected with Naruto's chest and sent him crashing backwards out the patio door. For a second Ranma thought he'd gone overboard and actually hurt the blond but he remembered the older boy's words and simply watched. He was rewarded with the sight of Naruto disappearing in a puff of smoke to reveal one half of the ruined table cracking in half as it hit one of the rocks next to the koi pond.

"Pretty cool neh?"

Ranma turned to find Naruto coming out of the kitchen with a tea tray, Kasumi trailing behind with another tray looking slightly baffled about the whole thing.

The pigtailed boy's grin was something to see. "No kidding. I have GOT to learn that."

Naruto laughed. "That's basic stuff, wait till you see some of the higher level techniques."

Ranma went googly eyed.

Naruto managed to set down the tray before scumming to his laughter. "Maybe after tea."

* * *

I split this chapter up after some thought. The next chapter is where Ranma and Naruto spar and when Naruto meets the rest of the people that live at the Tendo home.I was having trouble with the match so I decided to work on it a bit more and give you what I had without giving you some unfinished, unpolished fight scene. That will come with the next update, which I hope will be soon.


	21. A Match Made in Heaven, or was it Hell?

I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. I had an incredibly tough time making this match work. I'll leave it at that. Enjoy.

I don't own Naruto, Ranma, or Sailor Moon.

* * *

Naruto glanced around the dojo appreciatively. There had been only a few in Konoha as well built as the one he was currently touring. Ignoring the sometimes sub par patch jobs it was a beautiful training hall. It had a lived in 'homey' feel to it that brought a smile to the blond's lips. Unlike most of the dojo's he'd worked in or visited in Konoha this one was welcoming and seemed to extrude knowledge. He wondered idly, as Ranma pointed out some of the finer points about the building, if the walls could speak. The tingling sensation at the back of his spine certainly intensified the feeling. It was as if the walls wanted to take him in and whisper 'if only you knew what we've been witness to.'

Shutting out the feeling for the moment Naruto regained his focus just as his tour guide finished his quick round about.

"You give everyone a tour like that?" Naruto asked, a smirk threatening to overtake his face.

Ranma seemed to pause for a moment then shook his head, as if in confusion. "That's weird. I don't think I've ever done that." He blinked as some of what he'd said came back to him. "Huh, didn't know I knew so much bout this place."

Naruto's eyebrow quirked slightly at his friends admission. "You've lived here how long now?"

Ranma scratched his head. "About a year and a half I think. Give er take a month or so."

"You've dealt with Akane for over a year? Has she always been that bad?"

Again the pigtailed boy shrugged. "Not always. There are times she's not so bad. The day we met she was nice and all, even offered to be my friend, till she...uh." He looked sheepishly at the blond then back out towards the house. Naruto followed his line of sight and found himself looking at a certain window. No need to guess who's window that was.

Ranma looked away after a few moments gazing at the window and apologized. "Er, sorry bout that. Lets get started shall we? You wanna change or are you good in what you got on?"

Naruto looked down at his current attire. He had some casual tan cargos on along with a white button up shirt with orange stripes running down the sleeves. The pants he could part with but the shirt he'd rather keep intact if he could. It was one of the few items of clothing he had left with orange in it.

"You got something that would fit me? I'd rather not mess the shirt up."

"Sure. Mr Tendo has a bunch of old gi's from when he used to teach classes." He pointed to a section of the wall at the far end of the dojo that looked like it swung outward. "Small changing room in there. I don't know if there are any student gi's in your size but you might be able to find one."

Naruto waved a grateful thanks as he slid into the changing room. The place was a bit dusty and didn't looked like it had been used for a long while. Work out equipment and bricks were stacked haphazardly in one corner while a large dresser occupied another corner.

After rummaging for a moment or two Naruto found a gi that looked about right for him in the dresser and exchanged his clothing for it. Grabbing a belt he proceeded back out to the dojo proper.

When he emerged he found Ranma waiting for him. The boy hadn't bothered to change, seeming to prefer his silks to a worn gi. A broad smile lit up the pigtailed boy's face for some reason. Naruto finished knotting his belt and looked back questioningly.

"That looks like one of Mr. Tendo's old gi's. He always wears brown."

Indeed the gi was a light brown color. And while brown was not his favorite color it had been the only one remotely his size. The black belt went well with the brown though and Naruto just shrugged.

"Any rules you wanna lay down?" Naruto asked as he stretched his arms, eliciting several distinct popping noises from each.

Ranma's grin remained steady. "Nothing real explosive, I'd rather not help rebuild the dojo again."

Naruto mentally agreed and scratched off almost all of his "cool" ninjutsu techniques. That left him a few ninjutsu techniques, almost all his genjutsu and taijutsu, and the basics.

"Other then that?"

Ranma's grin bled out until only a predatory smile was left. "Other then that...Anything Goes." He suited words to action and took up an open stance that indicated he was ready.

Naruto's smile matched Ranma's as he chose a stance similar in style to his opponent's.

"Anything goes huh? I think you'll regret saying that by the time we're done."

Ranma shook his head slightly. "It's the only way to live around here. Follow the rules and you get trampled."

"So's that mean the rules we laid down are gonna go out the window?"

"Nah," Ranma said as he began shifting stances; going through several of the more well known martial arts basic stances before settling back into his traditional kempo. "I wanna keep this interesting. Restriction brings out adaptation and adaptation is the heart of Anything Goes. Simple as that."

Naruto nodded in silent agreement. 'He probably doesn't know it but he just stated one of the ninja fundamental principles. Though I doubt he's had much practice using that credo in life and death situations like I have.'

His mental processes were cut short as Ranma started the fight with a leg sweeper. Throttling his instincts to jump over the attack, Naruto allowed himself to fall to it. His legs disappeared from under him as his body flipped, his head replacing his feet in proximity to the floor.

Ranma, slightly unnerved that his attack had worked so well, continued through, pivoting to come around full circle for a kick to his opponent's head which had been significantly lowered.

The blond reacted like quicksilver. His arms shot out to prevent his head from meeting the floor while simultaneously arching his back into an impossible curve that brought a leg whipping into the return kick that was meant for his head.

The impact from the kick provided enough energy to spin Naruto into an undulating flip that landed him back on his feet before the pigtailed boy could make his next move. Naruto came in fast and hard, throwing a combination of punches and lightning fast jabs that would have been difficult for a chuunin to deal with.

Therefore it came as no real surprise to the blond when his opponent swatted aside his blows and began to fire them back at an increased pace. Kicks began to come into play again as the battle traversed the length of the dojo and back again. Each of them seemed happy enough to trade blows for several minutes but not land a single one. That is, until Naruto decided to see what else Ranma was capable of.

A strategically placed opening in his opponent's defenses clued Ranma into the fact that Naruto wanted to take the battle up a notch. Already throughly enjoying the bout and, being Ranma, he attacked the opening with relish. He doubled his speed and was suddenly inside the blond's guard.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the very abrupt burst of energy. The energy gathered itself in the other boy's arms and legs and dramatically increased his reaction time, allowing him to take good advantage of the opening Naruto had provided. What really surprised him was how Ranma chose to use his advantage. The pigtailed boy lined up a shot with his fist and gathered his energy.

'He's just gonna punch me? That's it?' Naruto thought in disappointment. Disappointment turned to sudden surprise and agony as the punch, or rather punches, connected. Naruto's body counted three hundred and twenty-seven hits in the next 1.85 seconds, a feat he almost wouldn't have believed possible if he hadn't been feeling it at that very moment. His body, despite the beating it was receiving, reacted admirably fast. A quick chakra boost catapulted him backwards and out of range of Ranma's fists before more attacks along the same line could be delivered.

Skidding to a stop on the other side of the dojo Naruto assessed the damage he'd received. The series of punches had been precisely centered with very little deviation to allow for maximum damage to one specific spot. The trained fighter in Naruto shudder to think what a technique like that would do if it was paired with other techniques or fighting styles he knew. At the top of the list was the eight gates manipulation. He made a mental note to take a look at the possibilities when he had the time, seeing as his opponent wasn't keen on letting his advantage go to waste.

Ranma followed up his multi-punch with a pair of flying kicks that Naruto was forced to block. The blows sent painful reverberations through his body. Naruto couldn't remember the last time he'd been hit hard enough to have his whole body feel it. It was a disconcerting thought.

When three more blows managed to create the same effects Naruto decided he'd had enough. 'Time to take the kiddy gloves off,' he thought with a mental grin. This would be the first time in nearly twenty years since he'd pulled out the stops and gone whole hog on someone without the intention to maim or kill. Spinning chakra together with amazing speed Naruto set his plan into motion.

The blond initiated his attack a few seconds later by going on the offense and launching a hail of blows that stopped Ranma's advance cold. They did not, however, manage to penetrate the pigtailed boy's defense. That was where the second part of Naruto's plan came into play.

Ranma's attention shifted abruptly as a cry of primal rage blew into the dojo. A cry he knew all too well.

"RANMA NO BAKA!"

Ranma's defense faltered as his attention was drawn towards the doorway, attempting to spot and avoid trouble before it could reach him. The problem was the mallet wielding demoness Ranma expected to be there wasn't.

That was all Naruto needed. An elbow hammered the black haired boy's solar plexus, knocking the wind from his lungs in an audible 'Whoosh' and flinging him backwards several feet. Lesser fighters would have folded completely but Ranma remained relatively upright, his defense recovering with remarkable speed. But it wasn't enough. Naruto was there to meet him as he ended his short flight across the floor. A sharp kick to his back altered his course and sent Ranma into the air.

Expecting the pigtailed boy to land clumsily, Naruto was rather shocked when instead he twisted his body in midair and seemed to sail higher, controlled now and obviously recovered from the shock of Naruto's devious strike.

The blond's mind raced, changing tactics at breakneck speed to conform to his opponent's rapidly increasing visible skill level. A second diversion was called for. The moment Ranma's feet touched the hard wood floor again the 'diversion' made itself known. A thundering of footsteps rumbled towards the dojo. The footsteps' owner was heralded by another well known battle cry.

"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!"

This time Ranma barely seemed to move but Naruto could tell his focus had shifted somewhat as another threat presented itself. A dusty Ryoga, obviously newly risen from the collapsed wall section, came barreling into the dojo in mid umbrella swing. Naruto caught a very obvious eye roll from Ranma as he stepped into the swing and caught the umbrella, yanking it forward and using the weapon's weight to throw the bandanna wearing boy off balance and into the dojo wall. But this move in itself forced Ranma to overextend slightly. This wouldn't have been a problem if he'd just been dealing with Ryoga, but he wasn't.

Naruto appeared in a blaze of speed and speared the underside of Ranma's overextended arm, hitting a crucial cluster of nerves and one very important chakra focal point. A second blow, this time an open palm to the armpit, popped the arm out of its socket and sent Ranma crashing to the floor several yards away.

The black haired fighter rolled as best he could and came back up with a savage twist of his upper body that succeeded in resetting his arm. He grimaced and grunted but didn't yell, something even a trained jounin was hard pressed to do.

Naruto didn't give his opponent the opportunity to analyze his arm further. He knew a strike like that would open up a sizeable hole in any fighter's defense and he fully intended to take advantage of it.

His analysis proved to be at least partially correct. His blow had opened the black haired boy's defense but not nearly as much as he thought it might have. He was having difficulty using the arm but his energy was still flowing normally. Of course not having full use of the arm did tend to limit what could be done with energy centered in that arm anyway. But after only three hits through Ranma's weakened defenses he seemed to change tactics and the hole abruptly vanished. The boy switched over to a combination of styles that seemed to work with, and in some cases benefit from, the partial loss of his arm. Naruto could have sworn he saw portions of Rock Lee's drunken boxing style coming into play as Ranma reasserted himself in the fight. After a nasty dead arm blow slipped through Naruto's defense he was forced to yet again re-evaluate his opponent's skill level. His Akane Bunshin had worked well but he hadn't been able to follow through completely. His Kage Bunshin Ryoga hadn't been much better. Whatever advantage they'd given him had been nullified in moments by Ranma's skill and toughness.

Naruto grimaced mentally as he stepped back from a very aggressive yet incredibly hard to read attack from his opponent. He was fast coming to the conclusion that Ranma knew more about hand to hand combat then even he himself did. The sheer variety of styles the boy knew was beyond belief. In a straight up fist fight he had no doubt Ranma could hold his own and maybe even beat him. Of course that was without factoring in things like special moves, chakra, etc. If you factored out chakra Naruto really only knew a handful of real martial arts styles. The others were rather worthless without it.

Nodding to himself Naruto disengaged and stepped back several paces. His arms lowered and he bent forward into a bow, indicating the fight was over. Ranma blinked hesitantly but returned the gesture.

"Why'd you stop?" he asked as he straightened up. His hand went unconsciously to his smarting shoulder and underarm and began to inspect the damaged areas. "You had me on the ropes there for a bit. Why didn't you press your advantage?"

"Because I probably couldn't have won," Naruto said bluntly, with a hint of smile tugging at his whiskered cheeks.

Ranma reacted as was his custom. "Huh? But I thought..."

Naruto stopped him with a shake of his head and a true smile. "Nah. You're good Ranma, really good. You woulda eventually figured me out and then I woulda been the one on the ropes."

Ranma smiled and rotated his shoulders, a small blush forming on his cheeks from the obvious praise. "Er, hehehe...um thanks I guess. Never had anyone say that before. No one usually believes me when I say I'm the best. You're the first that hasn't had to have it beaten into em."

Naruto almost couldn't believe his ears. The guy was actually agreeing with him! 'Kid must have quite the ego to actually say stuff like that to opponents. Kinda like a certain Uchiha I used to know.' His lip twitched. 'Ok scratch that. Kinda like _every_ Uchiha I used to know.'

He held up his hand to stall further remarks. "Back up hot shot. When I said you probably coulda beaten me I meant in a purely fist to fist fight, little to no chakra involved."

Ranma's blush dissolved into a mask of confusion. "Chakra? What's that?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to make a funny comment when he paused. He closed his mouth with a click and eyed the other boy carefully. He mulled over his words carefully before speaking. "Chakra is the energy you used when you took advantage of that opening I gave you. Certainly you know what chakra is? How couldn't you when you obviously use it?"

A light seemed to come on in Ranma's mind. He snapped his fingers. "You mean Ki?"

Naruto rolled the word around in his head a bit. "Ki huh? If that's what you call it then I guess so. Chakra's what I know it as. Anyway, like I was saying, in a straight up fist fight, almost no chakra or ki involved, you've got the advantage. How many styles do you know anyway?"

Ranma looked like he wanted to complain but he dutifully began counting the number of styles he had experience in.

Several minutes later Ranma had given up trying to use his fingers and toes to keep track of the numbers and Naruto was beginning to wonder just how many he could possibly know. Finally, after several face scrunches resulting from "complex" addition, Ranma looked back at the blond.

"Two hundred fifteen...I think. I may have missed a couple. I'm not great with numbers."

Naruto wanted to call the other boy's bluff but the sincere expression on his face quelled his doubts. He settled for an arched eyebrow. "You really know that many styles?"

"Well yeah," Ranma said, beginning to look defensive. "Sure a lot of them are unique family styles that may seem whacked out to most people, but they count as valid martial arts in my book. Then of course there are all the main stream ones."

"Ok, like I said, you've got the advantage there."

Ranma puffed up his chest. "Fine, but you think you could beat me if you used ki?"

Naruto's grin went almost feral. "I don't think, I know."

"Prove it."

Naruto's finger went immediately to the still prone Ryoga slumped against the wall. "Well there's one example right there."

Ranma glanced at the body of his rival in disbelief. "How does Ryoga prove your point?"

Ryoga promptly got up, dusted himself off, and smiled disarmingly. "Maybe cause I'm not your buddy Ryoga." A puff of smoke later an exact copy of Naruto stood where Ryoga used to be.

"Er..."

"A Shadow Clone. Something I created through the use of chakra." Naruto said. "Creates a real short term body that can think and act for itself but is usually under my control." He waved his hand and cancelled his control over the clone causing it to disappear in another puff of smoke.

"Almost the same as this one."

A second clone came in from outside, this time without a disguise. "This one's just a normal clone. Body's not real. Just an illusion."

"Not as cool either," the clone said...in a perfect imitation of Akane's voice.

Ranma goggled.

Naruto continued. "They're a lot like that technique I used to fool Ryoga back in the dinning room. The Bunshin and the Kawarimi are beginner level jutsu. The Kage Bunshin is Jounin or Master level. Since you seemed amazed just at the use of Kawarimi I'm guessing you've never seen anything like it before. Am I correct?"

Ranma blinked. "Um, well I've seen something called Splitting Ca...er Feline Hairs technique. Its kinda like your Bunshin no jutsu. Cologne uses it."

"Ok, I guess a better question would be what can you do with your ki?"

Ranma went thoughtful again as he began to list out techniques he knew. "Well there's the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken that I pulled on you. That was that set of really fast punches. Then there's the Shi Shi Hokodan and the Moko Takabisha. Those are ranged attacks. The Hiryu Shoten Ha is probably my most powerful technique. Then there are my father's sealed techniques, the Umi Senken and the Yami Senken, but I try not to use those. There are a couple more but those are the main ones."

Naruto nodded. "So you've got maybe a dozen ki techniques at most? Not counting basic muscle supplementation like for jumping over walls. Am I right?"

Ranma nodded hesitantly.

"Can you do what Elder Cologne did when she arrived? Shoot your ki I mean?"

"Yeah, that's what Shi Shi Hokodan and Moko Takabisha are," Ranma answered. "She shot at you?"

Naruto just shrugged. "So from what I'm seeing here your techniques seem to focus on brute force. Correct?"

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. "Hey, I'll have you know only a handful of people can pull off even the simplest of those. They're far from brute force."

"I'd call blasting away with pure chakra brute force." He said in a lightly challenging manner.

"Well how many do you know then?"

"Somewhere in the range of two thousand," Naruto said offhandedly.

Never before had Naruto seen someone prefect the look of a stunned fish out of water better then Saotome Ranma. The sight was almost enough to crack the carefully constructed mask he'd created just moments before. Not wanting to loose his edge the blond bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from smiling.

Of course he didn't get to enjoy the effect his statement had on the younger boy for very long for at that moment the real Ryoga chose to come stumbling past the dojo. It was easy to see he was still having trouble walking correctly as he dusted himself off. He was muttering something about umbrellas when he caught sight of Ranma and Naruto standing inside and abruptly turned towards them.

"Ranma, what the hell do you..." Ryoga's angry comment died on his lips as he finally took in the image of Ranma doing his best impression of a fish.

Anger turned to disbelief. Disbelief collided with confusion. Confusion lead to mounting realization. And realization died laughing as the full humor of the situation made itself apparent as a grin split the lost boy's face. His eyes darted from Ranma to Naruto, who was the only one of the two that had noticed the others arrival. The combination of his raised eyebrow and partially hidden smirk sealed the deal for Ryoga as he burst out laughing.

The sudden noise caught Ranma's attention and he turned, still looking like a fish, to look in Ryoga's direction. This of course only caused the fanged boy to laugh harder. And anyone who's suffered a blow to their groin, no matter what gender, knows laughing doesn't do wonders for the pain. Ryoga doubled over and dropped to the ground as he tried to assuage his aching lowers while at the same time laugh to his heart's content.

Naruto found the whole situation hilarious and would have joined in with his own laughter if the laws of probability hadn't decided to gang up with Murphy and Nerima to produce one of the common occurrences that plagued Ranma and his associates. This occurrence fell under category three, the "someone walks in at the wrong time and jumps to conclusions" section. This particular case came in under the name of Akane Tendo, who happened to be the most frequent abuser of category three.

The dark haired girl stepped into the dojo from a different direction and made her presence known immediately.

"What are you two perverts doing in here?"

Her eyes swept the room, noting Ranma's sudden jumpiness, Naruto's suddenly stony expression, and finally coming to rest on Ryoga who seemed, to her at least, to be crying in pain. This of course kicked off the second part of category three, the jumping to conclusions part, which Akane was the undisputed master of.

Her fists clenched. Her blood began to boil. An all too familiar red haze shrouded her vision. Naruto saw the warning lights and heard the sirens but refused to budge. If she was going to get angry he wasn't going to stop her. If she attacked him it would be her that threw the first punch, not him.

Sure enough Mount Akane blew her top once more. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO POOR RYOGA?"

Ranma started to say something, tried to forced out an explanation, but nothing came. He didn't even know what was happening. The magical number 2000 was still dancing a happy jig through his mind.

Not that it would have mattered much since Akane rarely listened to him anyway. Luckily for him Ranma had nothing to fear at the moment. Her attention was fixed solely on Naruto. She'd warned him once. He'd humiliated her. She'd told him off again. He hadn't cared. Now he'd picked on poor defenseless Ryoga again. Any lessons she'd learned from her previous defeat obviously hadn't made a big impression on her.

Her anger drove her. Her aura manifested itself in all its boiling red furry, completely wrapping her in malevolent energy. She'd found this to be a very effective deterrent and terror inducer before and so chose to apply it now.

"**Pathetic little girl. I would crush her where she stood for such impudence," **Kyuubi said with a snarl of contempt. **"She obviously has no respect for her betters. Cut her down to size brat or I'll do it myself. She offends me."**

'For once I agree with you fox,' Naruto said mentally as he watched Akane set herself to charge. 'You remember Kisame and what we did to him? Like that, only more controlled'

The sick pleasure he felt rolling off the fox in response was almost enough to make him gag but he held back. **"Indeed. A suitable response to one like this. I think I'm finally starting to rub off on you runt." **Naruto shuddered mentally and the fox laughed in response.

"**Whenever you're ready."**

Naruto's trained eyes noted the twitching of certain muscles through the girl's powerful arms and legs, indicating she was on the verge of attacking. 'Wait till she commits herself. When it's beyond obvious that she's ignored my warning and attacked me.'

Reading Akane's moves was like reading a billboard. You'd have to be blind not to see her telegraphing her moves. It was obvious from the sudden tensing of her body and the rushed intake of air that she was going to be moving in the next millisecond or two. But Naruto waited.

He waited until her feet went into motion, after she'd thrown her weight forward and had set her right fist back for what would have been a devastating right hook, to make his move.

He reached down deep into the recesses of his mind, traveling the familiar corridors in a flash, and met up with the spike of energy the fox had woven for this very specific purpose. He grasped it firmly and pulled it upward, bringing it forward to the forefront of him mind, and then casting it outward toward the on rushing girl.

To any outsider it would have appeared almost as if Akane had suddenly tripped mere moments after she'd begun her attack. But no, this was much more then a simple misplacement of a foot. This was the result of having the equivalent of a nuclear sledgehammer bash you in the skull. The full force of Kyuubi's killer intent focused on a single person was an utterly terrifying prospect. No mere mortal could have withstood such power and escaped with much sanity left.

Luckily for Akane she didn't get the whole package. Naruto had asked for a very specific amount. He'd done it once before, to Uchiha Itachi's former cohort and partner in crime Kisame. That time he hadn't told the fox to hold back. Kisame's mind had literally been wiped clean by the utter intensity of the fox's desire to maim and kill. It hadn't even compared to Orochimaru's mental attack in the forest of death. The shark like man had melted on the spot, going from a vicious killer to a sobbing mindless freak in under a second.

This time Naruto wanted a very specific effect and he got it. Akane's trip turned into an uncontrolled roll that brought her up only a foot short of her intended target. She lay there, her entire body shuddering in fear and release. If she hadn't just been to the bathroom she would have ended up being even more embarrassed. Instead all she lost was her stomach. The tears came next. They streamed down her face in torrents as she gasped and sobbed into the puddle of vomit on the floor.

Ranma and Ryoga stood to the side in complete and utter shock, both had made rapid recoveries upon the appearance of Akane. Neither of them had wanted to step between her and her intended victim for fear of intercepting her attack. Now they were glad they hadn't for an entirely different reason. All though they weren't exactly sure why. Akane being suddenly reduced to a scared little girl in the midst of an attack was not something they had experience with.

Ranma finally took a hesitant step forward. Seeing the girl he loved reduced to a sobbing wreck was hard for him. He wanted to comfort her despite how she might react to it. Naruto's raised arm stopped him. The pigtailed boy stopped and waited as the blond bent down until he was crouching before the prostrate girl.

"I'm sorry Tendo-san," Naruto said calmly, barely above a whisper.

Despite its low volume Akane jerked away as if the sound had physically hurt her. Both Ranma and Ryoga gritted their teeth. Akane was in pain, she was suffering, yet neither knew what to do. What they did know was that it was Naruto's fault.

Naruto continued as if he hadn't noticed her reactions. "I would like to apologize for my actions. However, I did warn you about future unprovoked attacks against me." Akane was jerking only mildly now but still seemed uncomfortable with either his voice or his proximity. "The effects will wear off in a bit but I hope you learned something from this. Please don't attack me again. Do you understand?"

Akane didn't respond immediately. Instead she pushed herself off the floor of the dojo with shaking arms and managed to make it to her feet without too much difficulty. Her head remained lowered and tears were still dripping off the end of her nose but she eventually nodded.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad we understand each other."

Akane gave one last sniff and backed her way out of the dojo as fast as she could without looking like she was trying to get away.

Once she was gone the two other boys rounded on Naruto.

"What the hell did you do to her you bastard?" Ryoga snarled. Ranma was a lot cooler about the whole thing but Naruto could hear the edge in his voice as he too spoke. "If you don't explain yourself right now we'll kick your ass right outta Nerima for hurtin Akane."

Naruto turned to face them, his face downcast but resolved. "I didn't hurt her at all, just scared the livin daylights out of her."

That brought the two angry teens up short. Ranma managed to collect his thoughts first. "You didn't touch her? Then how'd you do that?"

"Killer intent," Naruto remarked simply. "I can project a very powerful killer intent that can, frighten, paralyze, and even mentally damage opponents. It's something most people I knew could do to some extent. She only got a portion of what I could project though. I didn't want to leave her like the last guy I used it on."

"You dare to use such a skill on poor Akane? Have you no honor?"

"What happened to the last guy?"

Naruto ignored Ryoga's comment and answered Ranma's instead. "I destroyed his mind. He wouldn't have been able to function if I'd left him. But since I was out to kill him anyway it didn't really matter that much."

"MARTIAL ARTISTS DON'T KILL!" Ryoga yelled, his face a brilliant shade of red. Naruto noticed Ranma wince at this but chose not to comment. "Does honor mean nothing to you?" Ryoga continued. "Have you no shame?" Ranma huffed but kept silent otherwise.

"Your definition of honor and my definition of honor don't seem to match," Naruto said with a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "My honor means a lot to me but honor in combat, in my line of work, is almost non-existent. You do anything and everything you can to reach your objective. If that means killing then so be it."

Ranma looked betrayed. "But I thought you said you were..."

Naruto stopped him with a head shake. "I never said I was a martial artist."

"Then what?" Ryoga asked in disgust.

"A ninja," he answered quietly.

* * *

No that's not how I had origionally planned the fight. It was supposed to build until it was a four way brawl between Naruto, Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane. Ryoga was gonna be the one to get "feared". But as everyone knows stories change. Things take on a life of their own. The way it came out is the way I finally settled for after many different attempts to get it "right". 

Oh and just to let you know, Ki does NOT equal chakra, ki is a majorelement in chakra but they look and feel much the same. The difference will be noticed and examined in later chapters.

I'm trying to keep Naruto non mary sue but putting a 150+ year old super powered ninja in the "real" world tends to make him look perfect. But believe me, he is gonna be far from perfect. He will make mistakes. He won't be perfect.

You can look up Ranma and his friends techniques and backstories on www dot furinkan dot com/ranma. Best place for information about the series.


	22. Meet the Tendos

Ok, here's the rest of chapter 22: Meet the Tendos. I expected to get this up over a week ago but wasn't letting me upload anything. The problems they had seemed to have effected me. Turns out all I needed to do was clear my cookies or internet files...not sure which. I was still working on the old setting pre problem fix. So here's the rest of that chapter I promised you. Not as long as I expected...again. But I did clear up some of the issues i'd left. I'm going to Vegas this next week so I needed to get this to you guys. Otherwise i'd feel even worse about it then I already am. Anyway...enjoy.

You guys all know I don't own any of these anime, only the origional ideas for this story and some of the OCs.

* * *

It was one of those moments Naruto hated. Those moments of absolute silence after an important moment, the whole pin drop/cricket/frog scenario that left the hairs on the back of your neck standing at attention. The punch in the gut feeling was there as well. He remembered it very clearly.

How many times had he been on the receiving end of these types of moments? Five? Ten? Twenty times? Sasuke had caused his fair share of those. Maybe that was why he hated them so much. He'd gotten used to them being painful.

He saw the effects clearly written on the two boys faces. Ryoga's eyes had widened, almost comically, before his face had hardened into a mask of distrust and loathing. Ranma reacted similarly at first. Looks of surprise, distrust, and interest all flitted over his face in quick succession before he finally settled on a thoughtful but wary look.

The silence stretched out for a few seconds, a very long few seconds but seconds none the less, before the moment was broken. Ryoga's fists twitched dangerously and Naruto mentally prepared himself for an attack, but in an amazing feat of mental processing the bandana clad lost boy held himself back. For once Ryoga was unsure in a moment of anger. He'd seen some of what the blond warrior could do. He'd seen the bodies of those pirates that had attacked their ship. For the first time he was facing someone he knew had very few qualms about killing if he was threatened. He glanced at the puddle of vomit Akane had left and shuddered. If his beloved Akane had fallen so easily to so little then he dared not think of what else the blond was capable of. But being the proud martial artist that he was he wasn't willing to let his fear and uncertainty be known.

He sent a glare at the self proclaimed ninja, almost daring the other fighter to attack, before he finally grated out a response. "Low life."

With that he turned and, with as much dignity as a damaged crotch would allow, stomped out of the dojo. Seconds later he was seen marching out of the hole in the wall with his backpack and umbrella.

Naruto sighed quietly. He was almost relieved that the boy hadn't picked another fight. Sure the insult hurt a bit. As a teen that would have been enough to start a fight but luckily he'd mellowed a bit.

"Don't mind Ryoga. He's touchy. Almost as bad as the tomboy sometimes."

Naruto glanced over at the one remaining person besides himself in the dojo. Ranma had turned his head to watch the bandana boy depart but was keeping close tabs on Naruto. The blond decided to try and keep the conversation light for the moment.

"He live around here?"

Ranma scratched behind his ear. "Not really. He's on the road a lot. Got the worst sense of direction I've ever seen. That's why we call him the lost boy."

Naruto almost chuckled but he managed to hold it back to a smirk. "That would explain why I met him in Singapore."

That put a smile on Ranma's face. The dark haired boy shook his head in amazement and finally turned his attention back fully to Naruto. "I was wondering where you'd met before. Why wasn't he happy to see you?"

"The boat we were on got attacked by pirates on its way out of Singapore. We took out the pirates but did it separately. I killed, he didn't. He took offense at that, even after I healed him up and made sure he got medical attention." Naruto shrugged.

"Huh? Wait. You were the one responsible for taking out those pirates? I heard about that. Nabiki was complaining that it messed up some money thing she had going. Said the delay cost her a bundle."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up in interest. "Nabiki's the middle sister right? She into business in a big way or something?

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. She runs betting pools at school. She brings in money for the family. She always watches the stock report on the evening news steals the business section from the paper every morning before she goes to school."

Naruto smiled. 'Sounds like a good girl to know if I end up spending much more time in Japan.' But he grimaced internally as the reason for his 'long term traveling' grumbled as he settled back down deep within the recesses of Naruto's body. The fox didn't seem at all interested in his host's actions now that any fighting to be had been fought. 'So much the better I suppose.'

"I don't suppose there's a bath available is there?" Naruto asked, changing the subject. He'd had enough of the dojo for a while. He could still feel a faint trace of the killer intent he'd unleashed floating about the place. 'Nothing a good airing wouldn't help.'

The pigtailed boy smiled knowingly. "Lets go see if Kasumi has the bath going."

>>>> 

It turned out that Kasumi did, in fact, have the bath going but when he arrived in the anteroom, having left Ranma talking to Kasumi, he found it already occupied. He shrugged, figuring it was one of the girls. So he took a seat outside in the hall and waited patiently.

Minutes later he heard the patter or wet feet and the swish of a door that announced the current bather was on his or her way out. When the outer door finally opened he glanced up and found himself staring at two of the shapeliest legs he'd ever seen. His eyes traveled upwards, noting the way the towel hugged her frame, until they came to rest on her face. He smiled politely. The girl's pageboy haircut combined with her sculpted face and body made for quite the attractive sight.

"You must be Nabiki then," He said as he rose from the floor. He stood nearly a full head taller then her but somehow he got the impression she still managed to tower over people taller then himself at times, a perfect image for the business oriented girl Ranma had described. He deliberately focused on her face. The towel wasn't nearly enough. "Kasumi said the bath was ready but didn't say if it was occupied or not."

She quirked an eyebrow at the blond. He was obviously a friend of Ranma's. No one else in this house ever had male teenage friends over other then the martial artist so it was kind of a given. This one was different though. He didn't blush at the sight of her in a towel and was polite enough to keep his eyes to himself after the initial glance. He also addressed her kindly and hadn't barged into the bath like so many others. He also knew her name, which put her at a disadvantage. She didn't like that.

"And you are...who?" Her flat tone and carefully constructed mask of cool disinterest was usually enough for anyone she dealt with outside of the family. She wasn't known as a heartless bloodsucker for nothing.

The blond smiled warmly. That was also something new for the middle Tendo. No one ever smiled at her like that. "Uzumaki Naruto, but proper introductions can wait till we're both clean and decent, neh?"

Nabiki nodded, secretly pleased with the blond. He hadn't given away any more information then he had to. Yet another pleasant surprise. She stepped out of the way and gestured in towards the changing room. "All yours."

Naruto nodded back and stepped through with his bag over one shoulder. Without a backward glance he used one foot to quietly push the door shut.

>>>> 

"So Saotome..."

Ranma's shoulders bunched slightly at the questioning voice coming down the stairs towards the living room. Whenever Nabiki started off like that he knew he was in trouble. He turned away from the tv reluctantly and tried to give her a glare. But, like most of his glares directed at the middle Tendo daughter, they couldn't hold a candle to her icy gaze.

"What's up Nabiki?"

The ice queen of Nerima cocked an eyebrow at him as she came into the living room. "You know very well 'what's up' Saotome. Who is this Uzumaki guy? Friend of yours?" She said as she finished drying her hair with her towel. She was dressed in one of her more 'revealing' outfits, a pair of extremely short sorts and a bunched t-shirt. Combined with the towel now hanging around her neck she looked like she had stepped right out of a summer pool or beach magazine. All that was missing was a pair of sunglasses.

"I, er, just met him today. He was passing through town I guess and we ran into each other," Ranma said slowly as he eyed Nabiki for some sort of reaction.

"Hmm."

Now it was Ranma's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What's Hmm?"

Nabiki spitted the martial artist with a glare, obviously not liking his response. "He's not here for some challenge is he? Or to get married or kidnap someone?"

"Nope. Just passing through," Ranma said while shaking his head to indicate a negative.

"That sounds almost too good to be true Ranma." Nabiki replied. "No one just shows up around here and meets you without some ulterior motive which, I might add, almost always involves you or my family to one degree or another." She narrowed her eyes at him as she finished. Ranma held still, locked into that penetrating gaze. He knew she was trying to tell if he was lying. It was something he'd gotten used to over the years, especially from Nabiki.

After a moments silence Nabiki blinked, apparently satisfied with whatever she found. She stepped forward and grabbed the remote from beside Ranma. "Well if he isn't about to blow the place up, demand a fight to the death, or steal away Akane then..." Her voice drifted away as she found the channel she was looking for and settled on the floor, the conversation forgotten.

Ranma let a subtle sigh go as the middle Tendo lost interest. He wasn't about to tell her what had happened out in the dojo. He really doubted she'd be quite this nice to the guy who scared the crap out of her little sister and managed to fight Ryoga AND Ranma to a near standstill using nothing but a couple of tricks and some extremely good martial arts. This of course led Ranma back to that magic number two thousand and the never ending stream of ideas just three of those techniques continued to provide him.

He was busy cataloging the multitude of options the Kage Bunshin could provide against some of his more difficult opponents, and drooling quite heavily in the process, when his combat senses alerted him to someone entering the room. He snapped out of his semi-daze as he realized his new acquaintance (yes Ranma has picked up some vocabulary while at school) had just entered the room. He blinked and slurped up the drool line as he realized the other boy had once again arrived without so much as a whisper. Nabiki hadn't noticed his arrival yet either, but that wasn't much comfort.

>>>> 

A smile tugged at Naruto's face as he entered the living room after his oh so wonderful bath. He hadn't gotten to lounge in a good furo since he'd left Earth Country several years ago. One of his last lives in the Elementals had been that of an owner of a semi well known messenger service that had made it big in Earth Countries Capital city. He'd employed actual couriers for out of town jobs but anything inside the city limits had been run by disguised clones he'd worked up specially for the job. The company's prompt service, especially in town, had kept the questions about the city runners at bay and Naruto had done very well for three years. He'd earned enough to buy up a good home who's prize feature was an extra large furo.

Eventually though he turned the business over to another, sold the house, and left town. Needless to say the in city courier service suffered, and eventually died, after Naruto's departure.

Since then he'd had nothing but showers or western style baths, neither of which he felt did his body justice. There was nothing like a good furo to ease the body and mind. He'd have to remember to pay the Tendos extra well once he left.

He found Ranma and Nabiki sitting idly in the living room. Nabiki seemed to be watching a financial report, completely immersed in the numbers flashing over the screen, and Ranma looked to be day dreaming. As those two seemed to be doing just fine he headed for the kitchen where he knew by both scent and sound that Kasumi was busy cooking supper.

Kasumi smiled benignly from in front of the chopping board as he entered. "Oh hello Naruto-kun. Did you enjoy your bath?"

The blond gave her a grin that was all warmth and teeth. "Definitely. I haven't had such a good bath in ages Kasumi-san. Now," he said, clapping his hands together. "Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?"

Kasumi's grin faltered ever so slightly at the rare question. Almost no one ever asked if she needed help. Ranma had helped with cleaning on a few occasions but never in the kitchen. Auntie Saotome helped whenever she was here but she never asked to help, she just did. But Naruto was a guest, and a new one at that. Certainly she couldn't allow him to help...could she?

"Oh dear," She said as she hesitantly placed her knife down on the cutting board. "Thank you for the offer Naruto-kun but I really can't let you help. You're a guest."

"Nonsense Kasumi. It's the least I can do after I broke your dining table. Would you like me to wash the rest of those vegetables? I can finish cooking the rice. Or make sure the soup broth doesn't boil. Anything at all."

The eldest Tendo daughter glanced at each indicated area Naruto had specified. It was true she was running a bit behind for supper after all the excitement earlier. A hint of thanks crept into her smile, making it just a bit more real. "I suppose you can help then Naruto-kun. Anything you like. I am a bit behind."

Naruto clapped again and two identical clones popped into existence, one to either side of him. "Great. We'll have this done in no time Kasumi-san."

The eldest Tendo daughter's eyes widened ever so slightly but beyond that her typical "Oh my" wasn't anything special.

Naruto and his two clones leapt to the task quite willingly, each showing a skill in the kitchen unmatched by any male Kasumi had ever seen, even the ones from the cooking shows she watched on occasion. The three clones moved about and shared the space with a fluid grace that required no talking or coordinating that she could see. It was as if a delicate ballet was being played out in the kitchen that seemed to work Kasumi's movements into itself as it went.

At one point Ranma had peeked in on the goings on in the kitchen and been left rather speechless. It wasn't until one of the clones popped a carrot slice into his open mouth that he decided to retreat before he drew any more attention then he already had.

Together the four of them managed to breeze through the meal preperation, Naruto and the clones having long since finished their initial tasks and moved on to other things that needed doing. They managed so well in fact that dinner was ready far earlier then the eldest Tendo had expected.

After cleaning up the kitchen Naruto dispatched the clones with a lazy wave, letting them expire in another puff of light smoke.

"Thank you very much Naruto-kun. You and your...um...yourselves were very helpful," Kasumi said with only a slight pause.

The blond shot a dashing grin her way as he exited the kitchen. "Least I could do Kasumi-san."

The older girl tilted her head and smiled sweetly. "What a nice young man."

>>>> 

Ranma was obviously waiting for the blond when he exited the kitchen. The boy looked to be practically on pins and needles. He leapt to his feet from beside the shogi board, which had been left mid-game by the fathers, the moment Naruto appeared and approached him with the look of man deeply confused about something.

Unfortunately all the sudden movement also alerted Nabiki and she flipped off the tv and stood gracefully from her spot near the couch.

Ranma got to him first but couldn't seem to formulate the question he wished to ask. If he had been faster he may have been able to fend off Nabiki but, as she saw neither of the boys had begun talking yet, she approached and cut him off.

"So Uzumaki-san. May I ask what brings you to Nerima?"

"Oh I was just passing through on the train but I saw Ranma's fight and decided to hop off and take a look." Naruto noted Ranma's mouth clicking shut at the same time he took on a slightly guarded look in the presence of Nabiki.

The middle Tendo daughter tilted her head slightly. "You must not care then that your ticket is now invalid since you hopped off the train. You'll have to buy a new one to where ever you're going tomorrow. I hope the fight was worth it."

Naruto's smile cooled several degrees. This girl was certainly a cool customer. He could see now why Ranma looked uneasy. He switched mental gears to cope. "It was worth it. And I have no problem buying a new ticket."

"Oh?" Nabiki asked. She seemed to lean inward in interest without really moving. "Where were you headed?"

"Here and there," Naruto answered. "I was thinking I may end up eventually in Sapporo."

Nabiki nodded. "Will you be spending then night in Nerima then?"

Naruto glanced subtly at Ranma. "Saotome-kun offered me a place to stay here for the night...if that's alright with your parents."

The glare she sent toward Ranma wasn't quite a death glare but it was close enough. "I can pay you for the night of course," He said promptly as he realized how he'd put his new friend on the spot.

The pressure of her gaze instantly shifted back to Naruto. He dug for his wallet. "Would a hundred be sufficient for the night?"

The almost scathing gaze returned only this time it was directed at him. Ranma winced in sympathy. Some part of Naruto's mind connected the feeling with that of Morino Ibiki. The torture specialist had had very similar looks that would make even ANBU shrink from his gaze.

"That might cover a...portion...of the night," she said evenly. He could easily imagine wisps of cold seeping from her mouth as she spoke.

He pulled out a green one hundred dollar American bill and held it between his index and middle finger. The girl's eyes grew ever so slightly as she tracked the bill on its journey out of the wallet.

"I of course meant a hundred THOUSAND yen. That is about the equivalent of one hundred US is it not?"

"One hundred fifteen thousand two hundred twenty five," She rattled off almost instantly.

Naruto allowed a grin to return to his face. Money obviously meant a lot to this girl. To be able to pull numbers like that out of her head meant she was also very interested in exchange rates and international dealings. "Ah good," he said, holding out the bill for her to take. "That will cover it then yes?"

Nabiki caught herself, instantly sealing her sudden interest in the bill and where it had come from behind a cool business facade. She took the bill politely but shoved it in her pocket just a tad to quickly however. "Yes that should be sufficient," she said as an oddly quirky smile caught her lips for a moment. The next moment it was gone as she swept Ranma with a cool look. "I'll leave the two of you to your conversation then."

Moments later she was gone, disappearing upstairs with a hint of a spring Naruto decided was not quite part of her normal pace. 'An interesting girl that one.'

* * *

Hope you liked. 


	23. Can't Outsneak a Sneak

Hi everyone. Sorry bout the long wait...and boy do I mean long wait, but it couldn't be helped. I had my computer taken away by my parents for several months and when I finally got it back I managed to get a nasty virus within days of its return. That combined with school, work, and my recent engagement to my long time girlfriend has kind of forced FF onto the back burner. But I return to you now with what you've all been waiting for. I do hope you enjoy. And before you send a scathing comment to me after reading this chapter please read the author's note i'll post at the end of this chapter.

As you well know I own nothing but the plot of this story, and even that's questionable.

* * *

Ranma and Naruto never got a chance to continue their conversation before dinner however. Happosai had returned home for a few minutes. He'd steered clear of Naruto but Ranma hadn't been so fortunate. A splash and a grope later Ranma was headed off to the bath. By the time he was out dinner was about to start.

Dinner that evening was an interesting affair. All members of the Tendo and Saotome families had managed to make it there that evening. Happosai didn't count as a member of either and he wasn't there anyway, having gone off to terrorize the greater female population.

Soun and Genma had stumbled in just in time for dinner with the help of Genma's wife Nodoka. The not so subtle threat of her unwrapped but sheathed katana had been enough to keep the inebriated men moving under their own power from where she'd found them in a local bar. But once they'd noticed the new addition at the table at least a portion of their mental faculties returned. Enough, at least, to sit up strait and manage a semi decent conversation.

Both Akane and Nabiki had ventured back downstairs for dinner as well. The former was obviously extremely reluctant to do so. She was still a tad bit jumpy and avoided Naruto as best she could. If she couldn't avoid him she ignored him, refusing to even acknowledge his presence. Instead she focused herself on Ranma. While she wasn't as enthusiastic about beating him as normal he still managed to get punched twice before the families had even managed to get settled around the table. (A new table that is. The Tendos had several spares packed away incase of emergencies.)

The later Tendo daughter had hardly let her attention waver from their house guest since she'd returned from her room. While Naruto found the attention rather unnerving at first he'd compared them to other stares he'd gotten before and found it to be sub par. Nabiki, for all her bearing and icy cool looks, just couldn't hold a candle to people like Orochimaru, Itachi, and Sasuke. They had truly been some of the most disturbing. After comparing her to them he was able to easily ignore her less then desired attention.

Conversation around the dinner table seemed to constantly return to one of two topics. The engagement between Ranma and Akane, which Naruto figured was the usual topic of choice, and himself. Naruto was forced to expand on his earlier story, that of a wandering quarter Japanese kid from Okinawa out to wander the world and sell his skills.

Just about everyone bought the story. There were exceptions however. Naruto knew Ranma was taking it with a grain of salt. The pigtailed boy already knew the story wasn't completely correct. He just didn't know what was and what wasn't right. Naruto wasn't really surprised that Nabiki wasn't buying it either. The girl picked apart his stories like a certified detective, asking for details and quickly linking time lines and locations together.

Naruto wasn't sure exactly when it became a cat and mouse game between the two of them but once he was aware of it he was positive she was the cat. So, being the good little mouse he'd suddenly found himself to be, he led her on a wild goose chase of stories and information until the conversation was a safe enough distance away from him that he could pull out and not risk himself further.

When Mrs Saotome suddenly took up the conversation, which Naruto had somehow guided to cooking, Nabiki caught his eye and nodded ever so slightly. The blond returned the nod and then, reverting back for a moment to his old self, gave her a wink and a cocky half smile that said quite simply "thanks for playing". She glared at him knowingly. He could almost feel her determination to root out the truth behind his lies. He continued to smile as the conversation wandered back towards the two love birds of the house.

They were still on that same topic five minutes later when, as Naruto was finishing off his sixth cup of sake, Nabiki fired off a question he was wholly unprepared for.

"Do you have someone special in your life Naruto-kun?"

The blond covered a wet cough, nearly choking on his last mouth full of the rice wine, but managed to swallow. This gave him time enough to pull himself back from the shock and answer.

"Not really. It's been a long time since I had anyone truly special in my life."

Nabiki smiled in false sweetness as she moved in for the kill. "That's too bad. You'd think a guy that travels as you do would have a girl in every port."

That comment drew Nodoka's attention, just as Nabiki had guessed it would. "Such a fine young man like yourself must have many young lady friends. It's only manly."

Naruto shook his head. "Nope."

Nodoka looked confused. "Really dear? That's just not proper. Certainly you don't...swing the other way?"

That sent Naruto reeling. He rocked back as every eye at the table turned toward him to catch his response. He could see Nabiki's half hidden look of triumph and knew she'd take it further unless he rebuffed Nodoka's statement. Again he shook his head. "No no. Nothing like that Mrs Saotome." He glanced down at his empty sake cup for a moment. How could he tell it and still keep in line with his story?

"I...I used to have a very special girl back...on Okinawa." He began without looking up from his cup. "We loved each other dearly. We even decided to marry, when the time was right of course. She knew she couldn't have any kids. It was for love." Naruto took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "Hinata...died. She got sick. I was there when she died. At her side. I haven't loved anyone else."

Naruto looked up and gave Nabiki a rather half hearted smile, letting her know she'd scored one but at a price he hadn't wanted to pay. Nabiki, however, failed to acknowledge the point to her side. Only the rise and fall of her shoulders and a faint tick in her right cheek showed she was alive at all.

Every other female at the table seemed touched by his words. Akane was looking down at her hands as they twisted together beneath the table, Kasumi was misty eyed but smiling as she poured more sake for her father and Mr Saotome, and Nodoka was nodding sagely.

The males were another story. Mr Saotome seemed unmoved by his words. Mr Tendo, on the other hand, had a far off look in his eyes as silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Naruto was fairly certain the man was fondly remembering his own wife. Kasumi's role as the caretaker of the home and the various reactions he'd gotten from the girls throughout the day had clued him into the fact that Mrs Tendo was no longer among them. So far he had managed to avoid the subject but it seemed he'd hit a nerve with his own story.

Everyone, with the exception of Ranma, seemed to have lost visual focus with their surroundings. Ranma was the only one who was actually looking at someone at the table. Although his head was barely turned in her direction, Naruto could see Ranma's eyes lingering heavily on Akane's bowed head. There was a story there Naruto was certain. Possibly the main reason behind Ranma's strange relationship with the violent Tendo daughter.

The blond sighed and held out his cup as Kasumi turned the Sake bottle in his direction. The clink of ceramic on ceramic seemed to jolt most of them out of their trances. Nodoka was the first to recover fully. She offered a motherly smile to him and put down her cup of tea.

"My apologies Uzumaki-kun. I am sorry if what I said tarnished the memory of your love."

The blond shook his head ruefully and allowed a matching smile to drive the sadness from his face. "Accepted but unnecessary Saotome-san. It was a perfectly reasonable assumption on your part. I did not specify any reason for my lack of female company. In truth I have not felt the need for such company since...Hinata." Naruto stopped and pursed his lips as he realized what he'd said. If he was lucky the subject would be dropped.

And indeed it was. Dinner continued on peacefully. This by itself was enough to be considered unusual in the Tendo home but then Naruto didn't know that. All he knew was that when Kasumi began gathering dishes with Mrs. Saotome's help a collective sigh seemed to roll off the dinner group. A tension Naruto hadn't noticed seemed to relax and disappear from the group as the dishes disappeared and people began to separate and go their own ways. The fathers retired to their shogi board, Kasumi and Mrs Saotome contented themselves in the kitchen, Nabiki went back to alternately watching the tv and reading a manga, and Akane vanished back to her room as soon as she could.

Ranma quickly seized the moment and motioned Naruto back out to the dojo. Once there Ranma finally managed to get his mouth moving in time with his mind and began asking his questions.

"I can't figure out how you do it," he said as the two of them settled on the hard wood floor facing an open sliding door that looked out over the yard. "I've been working it out in my head and I can't figure out how you manage to get your ki to do even the most basic of those moves you showed me. I don't even think the old hag or the letch could do what you do. And they're over 300 years old."

Naruto smiled ruefully. "Well lets look at what you can do. You obviously know how to augment your muscles with your chakra, or ki if you prefer. You can use it for several other techniques as well. Your multi-punch and energy blasts are not something I'm familiar with."

He scratched his hair line and seemed to ponder something for a moment. "Why don't we just start from the beginning." Naruto turned towards his younger friend. "Can you show me your ki? Can you produce an aura?"

"Sure," Ranma said. He concentrated and a hazy blue corona sprang into life around him. The blue spirit fire shifted and flowed as far as ten inches from his body in some spots. Naruto nodded. He held out a hand towards the spirit energy.

"May I?"

Ranma nodded his consent.

The blond brushed his hand through the outer edges of the aura, causing it to ripple and flow around his fingers. Ranma bore down slightly in concentration as the foreign ki just under the surface of Naruto's skin connected and began interacting with his own.

He'd had contact with other people's ki before and knew the sensations well. The pressure and heat created by two different ki interacting wasn't really uncomfortable, it was just annoying and forced him to control himself better. In battle however the pressure could often spike and begin to hurt but that was rare.

Only two people had caused him intense pain due to aura clashes. Saffron and Herb had both had something different about their ki. With Herb Ranma had guessed it was his dragon ancestry. Saffron had been another matter. The Phoenix godling had had so much ki that his control had suffered. Where as Ranma's ki was like a bathtub full of water, Saffron's was like a mountain fed lake. Because of this his control could afford to slip. He didn't have to worry about running short of energy.

Ranma clenched his jaw in pain as he suddenly found a third person who could cause the pressure to spike past the annoying and begin to physically hurt. The pigtailed martial artist watched as the blond's ki began to manifest around his hand. The energy was several shades brighter then his own and seemed to burn with an intensity he had never seen before.

Naruto saw the grimace of pain on his friend's face and pulled away. Instantly Ranma's jaw muscles relaxed and he dropped his aura.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to hurt," Naruto said.

Ranma shook his head. "I'm fine. Wasn't nothin I couldn't handle."

Naruto nodded.

"Um, so did you see anything?"

The blond nodded again but didn't say anything. Again Ranma could see that he was busy thinking. What he didn't know was that there was also a conversation involved.

'His chakra seems unrefined for some reason. It's like crude oil.'

"**An apt term brat," **Kyuubi rumbled.** "His energy does indeed seem sluggish and uncontrolled compared to your own. Even when you were a cub you had better control then him. And that is indeed saying something"**

Naruto ignored the barb and continued. 'I wonder if he's missing a step somewhere. The power is there but its not ready to be used. Even with hand signs it wouldn't work properly.' He began running through what he remembered of his teaching scrolls. As he did a suspicion began to form.

He looked back up at Ranma. "Could you form a ball of ki for me?"

Ranma concentrated and a blue orb about eight inches across came into being in his palm.

"Can you tell me how you do this? In as much detail as you can."

The black haired teen rolled his shoulders as he thought about it. "I pretty much just reach down and tap into my personal, er, well. I use force of will to bring it up and shape it how I want and to keep it going. It's easier when you use emotion to add to your ki. It intensifies it and allows it to be handled easier. Ryoga uses his depression and man can he pack a wallop."

Naruto blinked. The way Ranma was describing it it sounded a lot like how he used chakra when he was in his Kyuubi induced rages. It was pure emotion, will, and instinct. The fact that Ranma could apparently do what he did without adding his mental chi and hand signs and without having to go into a berserker rage was incredible to say the least. Even if he was using chi on some level to mold his ki it was obvious he wasn't fully integrating the two.

The blond nodded as pieces of the puzzle began clicking into place. The boy wasn't using chi to stabilize his chakra, or ki as he called it, to allow it flexibility and adaptability.

Chi was the second half of chakra. Ki, commonly known as life energy, was produced by the body. The more fit and in touch with your body you were the more ki you produced. Ki was the power behind Jutsu. The more ki you pumped into it the bigger the effect tended to be.

Chi, on the other hand, was mental and spiritual energy. Chi developed through experience and mental disciple as well as through spiritual experiences. Chi was the guiding force behind ki. It allowed you to shape and mold ki easier and made it pliable enough to be directed with hand seals.

Usually people had an abundance of one and very little of the other. Your starting amount tended to be based on parentage and sex. People like the Uchiha, with their bloodline, tended to pass power on to their children better then others that didn't have a bloodline. This, combined with the fact that men often had more ki than chi and women more chi than ki, determined how good a base you had to work with.

There were, of course, ways to get around deficiencies. Naruto's old friend Sakura, who had no bloodline or ninja heritage in her family tree, had been at an initial disadvantage compared to people like Sasuke. The one thing she did have in her favor though was the fact that she had a good base of chi at her disposal to begin with. This gave her superior control over her ki and offset her small ki reserves.

Likewise Naruto had always had massive amounts of ki and much smaller amounts of chi. That was why he'd always favored area effect ninjutsu over concentration intense genjutsu; he didn't have the control over his ki that was required for such jutsu. This was offset by the fact that he could afford to waste ki because he had so much of it.

As they'd trained and aged their deficiencies had lessened. Sakura had become more powerful and Naruto had gained more control. Neither one of them had erased their problems completely but they had gotten better.

As far as he knew you couldn't access ki without the help of chi. The two were that interconnected. More often then not people simply grouped them together and called the combination chakra.

Naruto looked up at his new friend. Ranma certainly wasn't deficient in ki. The boy practically radiated it like a miniature sun. And from just the little he'd heard about the boy's life he knew he wasn't lacking the experience necessary for a strong chi signature either. The problem seemed to be in the mixing of the two. He obviously mixed them to some degree, otherwise he wouldn't be able to do very many of the things he did.

The blond opened his mouth to give his answer but quickly snapped it shut again when he felt the presence of two of the household approaching, each from a separate direction. Both were obviously trying their best to remain hidden. One, which he pegged quickly as Nabiki, almost made him laugh at her amateurish approach. She was obviously not well versed in true stealth but, from a regular person's view, she could probably pass as a sneak. He wrote her off as a threat. If she heard it probably wouldn't matter since the information didn't pertain to her and probably wouldn't make sense anyway.

The other person was much harder to track but was still miles behind a good jounin, even on a bad day. From the feel of it the other person was probably one of the fathers. After a moment of thought Naruto concluded that it probably wasn't Mr Tendo. The man hadn't struck him as particularly sneaky. Somewhat untrustworthy but not sneaky. That left Mr Saotome. He noted quickly that Ranma hadn't shown any sign that he'd sensed either of their presences approaching. Nabiki's approach lent itself to sight more then voice but Mr Saotome seemed to just want to listen in. After all crawling under the floorboards doesn't give you great attack options.

Naruto took a chance, hoping Ranma would understand what he was trying to communicate without speaking. He held up a hand then quickly placed a finger against his mouth in the universal signal for silence. Ranma opened his mouth to say something but Naruto shook his head which stopped the younger boy nicely. Naruto pointed at the floor between them then curved his hand, acting like he was putting it under a table.

Ranma blinked, glanced at the floor, and then sat up straighter. Ranma pointed to the floor, mimicking Naruto, and then mouth 'who'. Naruto sighed mentally, glad that he'd gotten the point across. He pointed at Ranma and then tucked his arms in close like he was holding a baby. It was the only way he could think of to signify 'father'.

It was good enough for Ranma apparently because his lip curled up in a grimace and he made to stand. Naruto quickly stopped him with a hand and asked him silently to wait. When Ranma looked like he was going to argue Naruto smirked and gave the boy a wink.

Judging by where both of the eavesdroppers were neither could currently see Naruto, though that would change in just a few moments with Nabiki, so he swung his feet out over the ground below and planted them there with nary a whisper. One quick seal later there was a second Naruto sitting exactly where the real one had just sat.

Ranma was sitting very still as he tried to soak up as much of his new friend's technique as he could. The appearance of the clone made the boy's eyes grow a hair wider but otherwise he didn't react. The clone motioned to Ranma to talk to him. Ranma hesitated, suddenly unsure how he was supposed to talk to someone that was there but...well...wasn't real. Both Naruto and the clone smirked at him, enjoying the confusion emanating from the younger boy but after a few seconds the clone took it upon himself to continue the conversation. Asking Ranma about his life was an obvious topic so the clone stuck with that. Ranma replied as best he could while continuing to observe the real Naruto.

With his cover in place Naruto performed another short series of hand seals. Upon completing them he sank into the ground like it was nothing more than water. Ranma struggled valiantly to continue talking normally as he saw Naruto disappear. Here was yet another technique that was completely beyond his experience. His mind began to whirl again at the thought of all the things his new friend could teach him; a grin of pure glee spreading across his face as he continued to talk.

>> > 

Naruto positioned himself carefully, bidding his time as the elder Saotome maneuvered his way into position directly under the spot where Ranma and Naruto's clone sat chatting. The man was obviously highly practiced in the art of silent movement which was amazing for someone of his girth and lazy nature. He was easily the most sneaky non-ninja Naruto had ever seen which was, at the moment, the only reason, aside from being Ranma's father and primary trainer, that Naruto even bothered to notice him.

The man was clearly not a shining example of fatherhood or of society in general. He'd been forced home from a bar by his wife(not a good sign), had tried unsuccessfully to steal food from his son(a heinous crime in Naruto's book), had been as stupid and stubborn as a rock in regards to his son's life and love interests(the fight in the empty lot and Ranma's brief explanation afterward came to mind), and last but not least his current attempt to listen in on a conversation not intended for his ears.(a bad attempt by Naruto's standards) Oh yes, Naruto felt that any action on his part here, sort of killing or severally damaging the man, was well deserved.

So it was with great relish that, just as Genma settled himself comfortably into position, Naruto reached up through the ground, latched onto Genma's dirty old gi, and yanked downward.

Genma's reaction time was normally very good. It had to be to deal with Happosai and his son. But in this case he wasn't nearly fast enough. He had enough time for a startled "huh?" before he was yanked under.

>> > 

Ranma leapt from his spot on the floor of the dojo when he heard the startled cry of his father coming from just beneath his feet, hardly noticing the clone he'd been talking to vanishing as he did. He stepped out into the yard and bent over to look underneath the building. He didn't initially realize what he was seeing but after about two seconds his brain caught up with his eyes and confirmed that yes indeed, that was his father's head sticking out of the ground.

>> > 

Nabiki heard her 'uncle' yell but didn't know exactly where the yell had come from since her eye was trained on Ranma and their guest through the lense of her camera. Last she'd seen the old man he'd been playing with her father on the porch. She snapped one more shot of the two boys then lowered her camera to figure out where the noise had come from. When Genma sounded surprised it usually meant something big was brewing.

But when she looked back at the boys sitting in the dojo she found only Ranma, who was no longer sitting but jumping out the door as she watched. She blinked in surprise. In the half second it had taken her to lower the camera from her eye Naruto had vanished. Her eyes flicked over the rest of the yard from her vantage point on the far side of the yard from the dojo but couldn't spot him. Nabiki wasn't normally one to get nervous over something like this but something about their guest unnerved her ever so slightly. It wasn't the fact that he passed around big American bills like they were nothing, although that was strange. It was something else, something her long neglected martial arts skills sensed about the boy. She couldn't put a finger on it and that, more than anything, is what unnerved her. So having the boy disappear like that wasn't something she really felt comfortable with.

Nabiki flipped her hair back from her face as she mentally chuckled at the thought of the 'Ice Queen' showing nervousness in public. Her long crafted persona would have come crashing down faster then a house of cards in an earthquake if she'd shown it.

"Nice lense, what is that a 10X zoom? Very nice."

Even with her long practice at being an ice queen Nabiki wasn't immune to surprises. Oh sure she didn't scream but one only had to see the air she got when she jumped and the sudden frizziness of her hair to know she'd been completely and utterly surprised.

She turned around shakily to find the target of her short search standing right behind her with a megawatt smile on his face.

"Even with a 10X zoom I doubt you can get a good close up at this range," Naruto said as his smile turned cheeky. "And I really think you'll want to get a picture of this."

A gentle hand on her lower back boosted her out of her hiding place towards the dojo where Ranma was now laughing uncontrollably on the ground. The sight of her 'brother' helped shake her out of her daze somewhat as the two approached the side of the dojo.

"Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu.(Earth Jutsu: Inner Decapitation) One of the first ninjutsu I ever experienced," Naruto said as they stopped in front of Ranma who was just barely beginning to contain his laughter. From here Nabiki could easily see what the fuss was about. After a moment of observation her cheek twitched upward ever so slightly. A moment later her camera was up and taking pictures every few seconds. Nartuo noted that the camera hid the middle Tendo's smile very well which was probably her intention.

Below them, just underneath the dojo's floor overhang, was Genma Saotome's head...firmly lodged in the ground along with the rest of his body. His grunts and muttered comments as he tried to work himself free of the earth's clutch looked not so much intimidating as funny. The balding man's head, his bandana horribly tilted out of position, looked a lot like a bowling ball with a cleaning rag resting atop it. The eyes, focused before on the dirt centimeters away, looked up at the blond man above him in anger.

"You! You did this to me! Ranma. Stop laughing your fool head off boy and help get me out of here."

Unfortunately for him his comments only made Ranma laugh harder.

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Alright down to buisness. The hardest part I have found while writing this story is how to mesh chakra and ki. I'll go into further detail next chapter but Naruto's thoughts on the process are basically what i've dialed it down to. Any other energy source, say like moon magic, is going to be just that, magic. I know I've loused up the real meanings of ki/chi but this is the only way I could make the vague ideas of chakra creation in Naruto work with the Ranmaverse.

Watch for more chapters sometime soon.


	24. Student and Teacher

**Bound to Eternity**: Chapter 24 - Student and Teacher

Ok i've held off on updating this story long enough. I've had about half of this little chapter sitting on my computer for over a year now. With my rather abrupt posting of a new short story idea my muse has taken over and forced me to finish this to appease the masses. I've already got the next bit played out in my head so the likelihood of another chapter in the relatively near future is looking up...though I wouldn't start refreshing your page just yet. I'm in the middle of dead week and I'll also be moving shortly. Its only four blocks but its major enough that I have no clue when i'll have the time to sit down and crank out some more. I technically don't have the time now but...eh.

You know the drill. I don't own the characters or series presented here. I just like borrowing them and making them dance to my own tune. And honestly after the most recent Naruto manga chapters I think someone needs to take the puppet strings from Kishi.

* * *

After a few more minutes of healthy laughter, picture taking, and general humiliation Naruto had released the elder Saotome from his earthly prison with a warning about spying. From the way Ranma's father acted during the talk Naruto was pretty sure the speech was falling on deaf ears. The balding martial artist beat a hasty retreat back to his game with Soun after the talk, dirt clods falling from his filthy gi as he went, which elicited a snicker from Nabiki and an amused huff from Ranma.

Once Genma was gone Naruto turned to Nabiki with the intent of directing her away but the mercenary girl beat him to the punch. "Hold it. What were the two of you talking about that Uncle Saotome was so interested in?"

Naruto considered her for a moment. Did she need to know what it was about? She could probably guess reasonably well since they were in the dojo and the only thing that seemed to hold Ranma's attention in a conversation was martial arts. She had no real use for the information as far as he could see. She didn't even have the skills of her younger sister which meant she probably couldn't even fully understand the implications. Granted she was a smart girl by all indications so she may have been able to understand better then most.

He glanced back at his younger friend. Ranma shook his head vigorously, a look of mild horror on his face. He looked back at Nabiki who was frowning at Ranma. There was something he wasn't seeing here. Naruto shrugged mentally. Better to be cautious if Ranma's reaction was any indication.

"Martial arts of course." he said with a little shrug.

She offered him a cunning smile. She knew she didn't have any leverage on him at the time. He was a new and relatively unknown factor and didn't seem to fit any of the usual stereotypes for new arrivals. She couldn't bribe him; anyone that could drop a hundred US couldn't be bought by her. She couldn't offer him info on the local martial artists either since Ranma would gladly offer that for free.

Ranma however...

Ranma stiffened as Nabiki's gaze turned back to him. He began to sweat as he saw her pull out "the little black book" and open it to a frequently used marker. He steeled himself for her onslaught.

"I'll knock ten thousand off your debt Saotome if you tell me exactly what you two were discussing and why you don't want your father knowing what it is."

Ranma's shoulders twitched. The nervousness he extruded quickly shifted to anger as he gritted his teeth and pointed a finger at Nabiki. "As far as I'm concerned Nabiki", he said, practically grinding out her name, "my debt to you was paid in full when I rescued your sister from Jusendo. Anything else I owed was canceled when you ruined the wedding. You got it? Clean slate."

Nabiki raised a delicate eyebrow but otherwise showed no reaction.

After several seconds of high strung silence Ranma huffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. He took a few steps back towards the house, paused as if reconsidering, then continued on at a faster pace. "We'll do this later Naruto," he said over his shoulder as he retreated inside.

Nabiki sighed as Ranma vanished into the house. "And the game is over." It was so low most wouldn't have heard it. Nabiki certainly hadn't wanted it heard if her tone and low volume were any indication. It had a sad tired sound to it...almost longing in a way...as if she hadn't wanted it to end.

Naruto noted it but reacted as if he hadn't heard it. Instead he stretched and, with a bit of a yawn, headed back towards the house as well. "I'll just grab my pack and camp out in the dojo seeing as you have a rather full house at the moment. Don't worry, I won't ask for a refund."

The light snort from behind him also probably wasn't intended to be heard but Naruto heard it just the same.

* * *

The next morning Naruto was woken rather abruptly by the sound of yelling and flesh meeting flesh. Sliding the doors of the dojo apart revealed a rather interesting scene.

Ranma and his father were partaking in a rather one sided airborne battle over the yard's koi pond while Mr Tendo was parked on the porch deeply enmeshed in the morning paper, apparently ignorant of the battle just feet away.

As Naruto continued to watch more members of the household made their appearance.

Akane appeared in the living room already dressed in what was apparently this district's school uniform. She glanced first at the kitchen, then at the fight outside, then across the yard at the Dojo and Naruto. She frowned at the sight of him standing there but quickly turned away and disappeared to parts of the house unknown.

Nabiki appeared moments later similarly dressed in her school uniform but obviously not quite awake yet. Her eyes were heavy and she was only moving at what appeared to be quarter power. The girl stumbled through the living room and disappeared into the kitchen. 'Obviously not a morning person,' Naruto noted.

At about the same time Kasumi appeared out of the kitchen with the first portions of the morning meal. The young lady set them on the table before retreating back into the kitchen once more for another load...all the while never once acknowledging the furious battle taking place in her yard.

It was all rather surreal and certainly not what the blond had expected as his first morning sight. Still it was apparently common enough around here that he apparently didn't have to worry.

The blond shook his head and turned to pack up his bag. The fight behind him ended abruptly with a soaked panda sitting moodily in the koi pond. This seemed to cue a call to breakfast from Kasumi who had just finished bringing the remainder of the food out. Naruto left off packing and joined everyone else as they converged on the dining room once more.

Breakfast was a very quiet and uneventful affair. It was so quiet and so uneventful in fact that Naruto could see Ranma beginning to look rather agitated by the end of it.

The calm of breakfast gave way to a flurry of activity as the three youngest members of the house prepped for their departure for school.

Nabiki disappeared first, leaving without a word. Akane vanished next, sparing her fiancé a glance before growling and moving off, which left Ranma standing in the entryway looking back at the blond he'd befriended the day before.

"You gonna take off or are you gonna stick round a bit?" he asked, seemingly dreading the answer.

Naruto shrugged and snagged his shoes with his feet. "I'll walk with you to school at the very least," he said as he pulled his shoes on.

Ranma nodded and stepped outside to await him.

With a thank you call to the eldest Tendo daughter Naruto shut the door and began the walk to Ranma's school.

* * *

"You got something on your mind kid?" Naruto asked as the pair strode through the early morning air. The cool damp air off of the nearby canal and the crisp smell of a potentially beautiful day was quite heady and was a pleasure to experience after the rough and tumble mornings of the past several weeks in the downtown districts.

Ranma scowled a bit at the kid bit but didn't comment. Instead he simply nodded.

Naruto waited patiently for his new friend to find the words he needed. Normal conversations seemed to be something Ranma was somewhat unfamiliar with apparently.

The school building was in sight, with only blocks to go, when Ranma finally spoke. "Look I...geeze. I'm not used to doing this but...uh." He paused and seemed to martial his thoughts before speaking again. "I want you ta train me."

The blond smirked mentally at that. Even after the small amount of time Naruto had known the pigtailed boy he knew that waving a new technique or two in front of his nose and then apparently getting ready to depart was one of the worst things he could possibly do to the young lad. To have this headstrong young man come right out and say that he wanted to be trained was testament to how badly Naruto had tempted him.

Naruto really didn't need to think about it much. He'd enjoyed his time in Nerima so far, found if fascinating even, and had found a fast friend in Saotome. He'd also found an amazing warrior as well as significant puzzle in the form of Ranma's ki/chi imbalance and other various problems. But most important of all was that he'd found a willing student so avidly interested in his art. It also helped that said potential student could also train him in return.

The blond looked down at his stomach. The fox wasn't going anywhere fast...not after his initial set backs in finding an answer to his own problem. He could certainly spare months if not years to train and study with his new friend. It would be a suitable way to expand his own fighting skills, pass on some of his own, and take his mind off his 'furry' problem so he could get a fresh look at it further down the road.

With no mental argument from the fox Naruto made up his mind.

"As long as your train me too."

Ranma's whole image shifted from nervous and anxious to upbeat and brimming with confidence in the blink of an eye. His eyes practically lit up as his back straitened, his shoulders pulled back, and his pace took on a note of confidence and power. His smile, though, was the biggest change. It was the smile of someone who was truly happy about something. That, Naruto decided, was one of the best smiles he'd ever seen. What he didn't know was that his own smile had just met its match.

* * *

Nabiki was hanging out of one of her classroom windows on the fourth floor, watching Akane mop up the last of the much reduced Kuno Brigade, when she spotted the pair of boys approaching the school yard.

Nabiki hadn't known quite how to work the blond into her usual bets so she'd simply left him out for the time being. She knew if the boy stuck around and made an impression, especially if Ranma made no secret of their budding friendship, that she'd be able to make a killing on the limited amount of information she had on him. And seeing as he was currently living under her families roof she was in a prime position to learn even more.

The middle Tendo was so lost in her plans that she almost missed the sudden change of pace the pair made two blocks from the school. She re-focused in time to catch the broad grins they each sported before Kuno made his appearance.

Her smile widened in anticipation. 'Oh this'll be good.'

* * *

Naruto and Ranma had, by some unspoken agreement, decided to sprint the last two blocks to the school yard. Naruto wasn't sure there were any good reasons, apart from happiness and the pure love of speed, for their last dash. He honestly didn't care. It was just fun.

The bodies sprawled across the yard were ignored. None were in the way of their happy dash for the doors. Even the appearance of a tall young man dressed in antiquated cloths and carrying a boken barely slowed their progress.

"Saotome you cur! Unhand my Pigtailed OOF!" was all the blond heard before they each drove a foot into the boy's face and used it as a springboard.

"Who was that?" Naruto asked as they both enjoyed a bit of air after launching themselves off the troubled youth.

"Kuno. He's a nut," was Ranma's simple reply.

A pair of boys zipped in front of running pair as they touched down. Their faces were filled with an unholy dread and their hands were clutched to their heads as they desperately tried to flee a huge...wheeled electric razor?!

Even Naruto had to blink at that one. Following the huge razor was a rather large man dressed in shorts, a flowery shirt, and a pair of sunglasses. A remote, obviously for the razor, was in his hands and...most disturbing of all...there appeared to be a small tree growing out the top of his head.

Ranma jumped, Naruto matching him perfectly, and used the man's face as another springboard...this time getting enough air due to the surprising amount of energy imparted by the little tree to clear the rest of the yard for a three point landing at the school doors.

"Who was that?" Naruto asked again as they each reached for a door.

"Principle Kuno. He's a nut too," was Ranma's reply.

Naruto's shook his head with a smile. Oh he was going to love this place.

* * *

And that's that. Not very long but be happy I posted it at all. Its been a long dry spell...enjoy what you get and let me know what'cha think.

And no...this isn't the start of a yaoi relationship between Naruto and Ranma. They're simply happy.


	25. Teacher and Student

**Bound to Eternity**: Chapter 25 - Teacher and Student

Sorry it's taken so long to put this small of an update out but moving and then a busy summer full of classes and other activities has kept me...well...busy. I'll not bore you with anything further. Just note, as always, that I don't own any of the manga/anime contained within.

* * *

With a wave and a promise to catch Ranma later Naruto slipped away from the crowds and, when he was sure no one was watching, disappeared from sight entirely.

The invisible blond spent the next several hours sitting in on various classes and touring the grounds. What was being taught in each of the classes wasn't nearly as important to Naruto as who was teaching and who was being taught. It was already fairly obvious that Ranma and his associates were the exception, not the rule, in Nerima. But seeing as most of the strange ones he'd seen so far were in Ranma's age bracket it meant the school was likely the best place to check up on any others he might have missed.

He was actually rather disappointed with what he found. Ranma, Akane, Ukyo, and a weird pasty faced kid with candles shoved into his headband all shared a classroom together but they seemed to be the only really remarkable ones in that grade level. Nabiki and the Kuno boy were a grade or two above the others but were, again, the only really interesting ones in their grade. That pretty much did it for the student body.

The teachers were sadly lacking as well. Aside from the elder Kuno the only excitement to be found in the teachers numbers was a language teacher who apparently vacillated between bombshell and kid sister depending on how much energy she drained from "trouble" students.

There almost seemed to be more promise outside the school than inside. During his whirlwind tour he spotted Ryoga(wandering in and out of a supply closet on the second floor), Shampoo(delivering something via bike across town), Mousse(attempting to follow Shampoo and failing miserably), and the little gnomish Happosai(clutching a bag and being chased by a mob of pissed off females). Still the school was where Ranma spent a good deal of his days and thus was probably the most interesting place in town, aside from the Tendo home that is.

Even before his rather brief tour Naruto had known he wouldn't be able to take any more schooling...at least at this level. It would have been a complete waste of his time and frankly would have put him to sleep faster then it did Ranma. College courses were more on his level but even those were likely to be boring as hell.

Aside from middle school and the ninja academy he'd been self taught for the most part. Oh he'd played the part of student once or twice during his wanderings but he hadn't payed much attention when he actually was in class.

'So if being a student is out,' he thought as he perched on the chain link fence that guarded the roof, 'what legitimate reason do I have for sticking around Furinkan? Do I even want to stick around Furinkan during the day? Would I rather be somewhere else?'

The ring of a bike bell and the crash of glass interrupted his contemplations. He leaned over and caught a quick glimpse of the tail end of a bike and a bit of purple hair before he heard the yells and screams. A smile began to tug at his lips as first the bike then its former rider were punted back out the shattered window. They were followed by a string of vile words no high school girl should have known ending in a rather loud "AND STAY OUT YOU PURPLE HAIRED FLOOZY!"

Naruto tried to withhold the laughter he felt rising in his chest but a distance cry of "My darling Shampoo!" proved to be too much for the blond.

Students and teachers alike paused to consider the peal of laughter that floated over the school and what it might mean before turning back to their previous activities.

* * *

After his bout of side stitching laughter Naruto recovered enough to consider his next course of action. Being a student was out but leaving Furinkan would take a lot of fun and chaos out of his day...and that would just not do.

A rather disturbing grin found its way onto his face as the only other option became readily apparent. The following chuckle was scarily reminiscent of a certain snake Sannin and sent shivers down the spines of those occupying the classroom directly below his perch.

"**You can't be serious kit?" **Kyuubi grumbled. **"The pigtailed runt isn't half bad but now you want to teach the rest of these pathetic low life humans?"**

Naruto chuckled again. 'Ah but look at what I have in mind. Fun neh?'

The blond could almost imagine the look of horror that crossed the fox's gigantic face before he heard the deep, almost subsonic, chuckling.

"**Oh kit...," **the Kyuubi practically purred, **"you're a fleshy little puke of a mortal but you're damn entertaining. Do it. I want to see their faces. I want to feel their horror and taste their despair. Dooooooo iiiiiiit...."**

Their mixed laughter would have made even Orochimaru quiver in fearful anticipation.

* * *

It was actually pretty simple to set up. All it took was the merest of prods and a tidy little sum of cash to get the boy's gym teacher to agree to a semester long break with Naruto(in disguise of course) as his replacement. The poor man had been trying to find a replacement for years but no one was willing to take the job with a Kuno as Principle so he settled for the next best thing...a long vacation. The man even waved the need for paperwork after a short demonstration of Naruto's Bunshin no Jutsu.

"It's not like you really need paperwork anyway," the man grumbled as he threw his few personal items from his office into a duffel. "Kuno doesn't care as long as you conform to his freakish little idea of a world and keep the kids in line while he's gone."

Naruto assured the man that his students would be well taken care of and would be in top physical form when he returned. This seemed to settle any remaining doubts the man had. With a little shimmy of excitement the man disappeared out the back door and was on a plane bound for Okinawa four hours later.

Principle Kuno was even easier to appease then the gym teacher had been. Naruto had simply appeared in the man's office, decked out in his full teaching persona, and told him that he was the replacement gym teacher for the year. The tropically inclined man found Naruto's enthusiasm inspiring and his hair cut(a part of the specially built henge Naruto had produced just for this job) perfect. The man's signature and stamp of approval weren't even dry before he was making a public announcement over the PA system.

"Aloha Keikis. Dis is da Big Kahuna speakin. All male keikis be gettin a new gym teacha today!" Naruto could practically hear the school grown at the announcement. The principle didn't seem to care. "Jus remember to show da new Kumu some respect yeah? Das all Keikis. Mahalo."

Naruto was given a pair of sheers and told to "Cut dem naughty Keikis hair if they gives you any trouble." The sheers were tucked deep within Naruto's new office desk and promptly forgotten.

* * *

Ranma and the rest of the 10th grade boys were dressed and on the field promptly at 1pm. As they would be the first to experience the new gym teacher they were all a bit nervous. Their luck with new teachers was not all that good. The last one they'd gotten liked to leave them as empty husks...deprived of their energy for the slightest infraction.

Ranma wasn't all that worried. He knew he could deal with just about anything the school could possibly throw at him. He was more interested to know what had become of his new friend. As far as he'd heard Naruto hadn't appeared in any classes yet and, considering his stated age of nineteen, he most likely wouldn't unless he bluffed and scammed his way in. Ranma didn't know why anyone would choose to do something like that if they didn't have to anyway.

They waited...and waited some more. Ten minutes passed without a sign of the new teacher. At twelve minutes past Hiroshi and Daisuke were just beginning to complain when a terrific shout cut through the sports field air and left everyone wide eyed and alert. The shout was like no other they'd experienced before. This was not because of its volume or timbre...no. It was the visual and tactile portions of the experience that left them gaping.

Ranma was the only who got to experience the tactile portion...for which the rest of the class was profoundly grateful. They, however, had to suffer through the visual portion.

All Ranma heard was a rather strident "DYNAMIC ENTRY!!!" before he found a shoe connecting with his face and driving him to the ground.

The scene seemed to freeze for the barest of moments as it imprinted itself on the minds of every person present. After all it wasn't every day you saw the school's premiere martial artist take a flying side kick to the face from a green and orange blur that shouted things like "DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

Ranma's body went limp as his face was driven into the grass and dirt. The green and orange blur resolved itself into a green and orange mountain of spandex covered muscle and blinding teeth...forcing many to look away out of disgust or flash blindness.

The man's black hair was cut and spiked so that it formed a perfectly level plane atop his head. His eyebrows were thick and fuzzy...thicker and fuzzier then any the students had seen before. The man's broad square jaw, combined with the cut of his hair made his head look like a brick. His eyes, huge blue orbs that glowed with a youthful light, and his grin, full of glittering white teeth, were the only saving grace for his face.

The rest of his six foot five body bulged with muscles...all of it tightly wrapped in a hideously tight green spandex suit. His lower legs were encased in orange sweat guards that clashed wonderfully with the green of his suit.

He looked like a Greek god that had stumbled into a Richard Simmons exercise program and been horribly mutated. All in all it was an amazing combination that no one outside of the elementals had likely seen anything remotely similar to.

The Kyuubi was howling in laughter as Naruto, in his modified Gai/Lee henge, watched his first class's reaction to his entrance and appearance. He'd wanted to give the correct first impression as well as test Ranma on his ability to detect an incoming threat. The first impression was going well but Ranma's reflexes were apparently lacking when it came to sneak attacks. That would be something he'd have to fix quickly. And if repeated dynamic entries weren't enough then Naruto didn't know what would do it.

A low grown and the feeling of a shifting body beneath his feet alerted Naruto that Ranma was coming back around. Naruto kindly stepped off the boy's head and allowed him to stand. The pigtailed boy, after a few twitches and moans, shot to his feet and pointed a finger at the man responsible.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're...woah."

Ranma's tirade cut off as he got his own first look at the green beast before him. His jaw went slack and his eyes bulged at the sheer absurdity of the man that was, apparently, their new gym teacher.

"Welcome students," Naruto boomed in his newly modified voice. "I applaud your youthful choice to attend gym class." He heard a couple of low muttered comments about choice before continuing on. "My name is Maito Gai and I will be your instructor for this year. As your instructor you may call me Gai-sensei. I expect nothing but your best youthful effort in this class." He clapped his hands together. "YOSH! The class will run four laps! Saotome," he said, pointing at the pigtailed youth who was just now recovering from his "introduction", "sixteen laps for you. You will not step over the finish line until the last member of the class does. GO NOW!"

The class was so stunned that they all shuffled off towards the track without so much as a peep in protest. Within minutes they were plodding along not unlike zombie joggers. Only Ranma was moving at anything resembling a decent clip but even he still had a rather glazed look about him.

Deciding that his class needed some motivation Naruto produced a number of clones and enmeshed them and himself in a modified illusion so that only one of him could be seen at any one time by any of the students. He and the clones then proceeded to divide themselves up among the students where they offered helpful jogging tips and generally scared the daylights out of each and every one of them.

Ten minutes later the class was standing at attention in the center of the field eyeing their new teacher warily. The jogging they were familiar with. Giving Ranma extra laps was something new but not really ground breaking in their minds. After his entrance however they were all collectively waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Naruto clapped his meaty paw like hands together loud enough that some of the closer students winced. "Now. I have reviewed Tosha-sensei's notes on this class and I am most displeased with your apparent lack of progress," he said as his voice dropped several octaves further as he leaned forward down to the students' level. His eyes went steely blue and glinted menacingly in the process which, combined with the rest of the image he was presenting, caused a good number of the boys to shiver in horrified anticipation of the terrors to come.

"Therefore," he said as he stood strait once more, "we will have to work extra hard to get you all in top physical form before Tosha-sensei's return next semester. I will work you harder then you have ever been worked before...bar none." Naruto's eyes settled firmly on Ranma as he said this, letting everyone know their martial arts prodigy wouldn't be getting an easy out. "There will be no mercy, no quarter, and no slacking. Obviously some of you are better off then others." Here he glanced first at Ranma then at several of the more...puny...specimens. "Fear not. I will not judge you based on what the best of you can produce. I will judge you instead on how far you've personally gotten once we're through. I expect nothing but the best from each of you."

A clipboard appeared in Naruto's hand. "Saito, Tosa."

One of the shorter boys jerked as his name was called out. "H..hai...S...s...sensei?"

Naruto sized him up in one glance. "Fifteen pounds over optimum weight. Too much fatty food for lunch. Finished fifth from last during this afternoon's run. Labored breathing lasted for three minutes and thirty-six seconds longer then optimal after run."

Tosa's eyes bugged out a bit. "D...does it really say all that?" he asked, staring at the clipboard.

Naruto turned the clipboard around and showed the class. The page only had a list of names on it...nothing more. Even Ranma blink blinked at that. Before the class could fully grasp what their new sensei had done he'd moved on to the next name.

"Gosunkugi, Hikaru."

A thud somewhere near the back of the class announced how well Gos had taken to being called upon by their new sensei. The crowd of boys parted, giving Naruto a clear view of the sprawled boy. "Nineteen pounds under optimum weight. No lunch. Bruising in six locations due, most likely, to bullying. Finished last this afternoon." Naruto strode forward and nudged the boy's arms and legs with his foot. "Minimal muscle tone except in right arm...I don't want to know why." It was a testament to how much the muscle bound titan scared them that not a single snicker or guffaw escaped the class's lips.

Ignoring the boy passed out at his feet Naruto turned to another student. "Komatsu, Hiroshi."

The second half of the pervy duo straightened abruptly and attempted to meet Naruto's eyes. "Three pounds over optimum weight. Didn't finish lunch. Started out well during the run but fell towards the back of the group near the end. Finished eleventh from last."

Hiroshi slumped a bit but didn't look to displeased with the evaluation.

"Saotome, Ranma." What noise there was vanished when Ranma's name came up. The crowd split once more giving Naruto a clear path to the pigtailed martial artist. The boy had obviously recovered from his earlier surprise attack. His arms were crossed and his lips were tilted in a cocky half smile that clearly showed he knew he was at the top of the heap.

"Excellent muscle tone. Double standard lunch size. Easily finished sixteen laps and could have done a half dozen more before the time limit expired." Naruto cocked his head slightly, which looked decidedly odd with his new look, and studied the boy further. "Bruising around the solar plexus, right shoulder, and lower right back. Multiple counts of other older injuries as well." Ranma wasn't smiling anymore.

Naruto 'hmm'd' and turned away as if moving on. The next moment his foot was connecting with Ranma's chest. The pigtailed boy bounced off the ground once, controlled his flight, and landed in a crouch fifteen feet away. Before Ranma could even recover his breath Naruto spoke again.

"Reflexes sorely lacking against surprise attacks."

* * *

Don't expect more real soon.


End file.
